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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27751924">Growing Up to Be Together (Twist and Turns and All)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonOfAnEgg/pseuds/SonOfAnEgg'>SonOfAnEgg</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Umbrella Academy (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Kindergarten &amp; Pre-school, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Not Related, Cute Klaus Hargreeves, Dorks in Love, F/F, F/M, Five mistakes love for literally everything but what it is, He does voodoo in a cute way though, Idiots in Love, Kid Fic, Kid Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves Deserves Better, Klaus Hargreeves Needs A Hug, Klaus Hargreeves practices witchcraft, Klaus sees spirits, Luther Dumb AF sometimes, M/M, No Beta, No Incest, No Underage Sex, No powers sort of..., Not Ghosts, Number Five | The Boy Has Issues, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Possessive Number Five | The Boy, Protective Ben Hargreeves, Protective Diego Hargreeves, Protective Number Five | The Boy, Shenanigans, Slow Burn, Slow Updates, Sporadic Updates, They friendly, This is basically from kindergarten to adulthood, Young Klaus Hargreeves, Young Number Five | The Boy, cause it’s five and he’s emotionally constipated, dont worry, it might be because of his mom, its definitely because of his mom, ratings may change as story progresses</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 20:48:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>33,383</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27751924</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonOfAnEgg/pseuds/SonOfAnEgg</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Five and Klaus meet at The Umbrella Academy, a school for international students. This is a story from their childhood, and their blooming, slow-burn, love story. Told from the eyes of Five, the only competent person in the relationship. Let it be known, Five did not want to deal, but ends up anyways because it's Klaus.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Ben Hargreeves &amp; Klaus Hargreeves, Diego Hargreeves &amp; Klaus Hargreeves, Klaus Hargreeves &amp; Everyone, Number Five | The Boy &amp; Klaus Hargreeves, Number Five | The Boy/Klaus Hargreeves</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>73</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>151</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prologue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I am a weird updater. I won't have a schedule. Sometimes I update like four times a day. This is honestly just an idea I had and I wanted to write this instead of working on some of my finals AHA. Feedback is always welcomed! I also did not reread this before posting so all mistakes are my own. (Five also mistakes Klaus as a girl in this chapter, but he is still a boy).</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Five was an exceptional child. There was no refuting that he excelled in everything he put his brilliant, young mind to. If someone were to ask about the theoretical possibility of time travel, Five would delve into a rant starting with plausibility, and possibly Einstein’s theory of general relativity for context sake, and end it with proposed, yet unproven, theories that had promise. There was not a topic that anyone had found that would stump his stubborn brain. </p><p>His parents first recognized his greatness when he was no older than two. Already putting the magnetic letters on their fridge in alphabetical order and then moving on to create simple addition problems for himself to solve, Five was more exceptional then any parents could have wished for. They quickly embraced their child’s incredibility with open arms as they began to invest in tutors and programs to expand his bank of knowledge. </p><p>For the next few years of his life, leading up to his enrollment in a private school, Five was constantly bombarded with new teachers and curriculum to learn on his own. He read everything put in front of him diligently, willingly. He started to create his own theories and equations for any subject that interested him enough to grow infatuated with. His parents stood proudly at his side, always making sure he had enough nutrients to carry on with his excessive and time consuming projects. </p><p>By the time it was necessary for Five to attend school, his parents were conflicted on what to do. They knew their child was a genius. He could easily skip to high school, possibly college, and not bat an eye at the difficulty level. On the other hand, both of Five’s parents had also been exceptionally smart. Not the genius their son was, but smart enough to graduate from high school and college early, both obtaining doctorates. They knew what it meant to be isolated from their peers, and that was never an easy thing; especially with someone as young as Five. </p><p>In the end, their decision was absolute. They would send five to be with his peers. While the work would not be hard, he would still have additional work from his private tutors, and all of his pet projects he had kept holed up in his tiny cave. Five, to say the least, was not pleased with the path that his parents had chosen for him.</p><p>“This isn’t fair.” Five practically groaned petulantly, sounding exactly the age he was (which was funny enough his name, too). </p><p>His mother smiled gently, looking at him through the rearview mirror. A warm breeze filled the car by seeping in from the cracked window as they sped down the exit. They were already running a bit late. His mother spoke lightly. “We’ve been over this, Five. You know the decision was not easy for us to make.”</p><p>“I don’t think it’s fair that you hardly included me in the process.” He pouted as he slumped his head against the window. He watched houses pass by as they travelled past a bustling, and quite suburban, neighborhood. </p><p>“We tried to, sweetie.” She coaxed him with her gentle voice. “But you were just so busy studying The Riemann Hypothesis up in your little cave-”</p><p>“Well if I had known you were serious in your ploys to make me go to school with children who actually have the mental capacity of a five year old, then I would have taken it seriously. I thought it was a gag.” He explained himself carefully.</p><p>Five’s mother hummed in agreement as she pulled into the parking lot of the private school. After she stopped the car in a relatively close space to the building, she unbuckled her seatbelt and swiftly turned to face her spitfire child. Her glowing smile was still plastered tightly to her face. </p><p>“I know you are displeased with these turn off events, Five. I know that if it were up to you, you would be attending Cambridge, or Columbia, or Stanford, or anywhere else of your choosing. You would be stationed in a lab in some other state, or country, sitting next to esteemed scientists while discussing superseded theories for fun.” She took a deep breath. “I know you want to skip childhood and go straight towards adulthood, coffee and all, but I can’t let you do that. Not even half of our lives includes childhood. Live in the moment, make new friends, make mistakes and learn from them.”</p><p>Five studied his mom. His stubbornness would not allow him to fully give up his dream of ditching the imbeciles he knew were behind those grand oak doors. “I will give this one month, and if I do not like it here, we will go with my plan on going to either high school or college.”</p><p>His mother’s smile still remained light. “We will give this till the end of the year, and if you are still unhappy, we will revisit the idea of moving you up in the year to come.”</p><p>Five knew he wouldn’t get a better deal than the one his mother presented. She did drive a hard bargain. “Alright, it’s a deal.”</p><p>His mother clapped her hands excitedly and hopped out of their car. Grabbing his briefcase, Five also made his way out the door, and swiftly walked past his mother’s expecting hand. He didn’t have to make it easy for her. </p><p>Children and parents alike were already swarming near the entrance of the school. The kids were getting big hugs and sloppy kisses on their cheeks from their ever faithful guardians, before they were sprinting into the building. Some parents walked their kids to the door before giving them a gentle pat on the head and murmurs of good luck. </p><p>Five’s parents had already explained where his classroom was located by showing him a map. It was easy enough to remember, as it was in the first hall of the building’s first floor, to the right. It was at the very end. Because of the fact Five memorized where he was going, his mother didn’t deem it necessary to go over it with him again. Instead, she walked him to the bottom of the stairs that lead to his misfortune, and rubbed his back gently.</p><p>“I expect you to make the best of this.” Her tone was sharper than normal. It was a very light warning, but a warning no less. </p><p>“Of course,” was Five’s very stiff reply as he swiftly turned to march into his new torture chamber. He was glad he brought his current project with him to distract him throughout the day.</p><p> </p><p>As he quickly walked through the halls of the prestigious Umbrella Academy, he saw a disgusting amount of plaques and trophies scattered in glass cases in front of each teacher’s classroom. The Umbrella Academy was an international school notorious for being competitive, even amongst its staff and students. Competitions and events being held for points and rewards. It was a very old school tactic to use to stimulate the healthy cut-throat human nature residing in everyone. </p><p>When he reached his classroom, he casually looked at his teacher’s case and saw that unsurprisingly, they too had countless numbers of trophies and plaques. Out of everything they chose to focus on, it was not honing the mind but the competitiveness of children, Five thought disgustedly. Turning to walk into the classroom, he slammed into another body, tumbling and falling right on top of them. </p><p>“Are you kidding me?” Five muttered angrily as he picked himself up. He looked down to see what abominable creature ran into him. Instead, he found a very cute girl with curly brown hair in a long pleated skirt and a sweater. She had a weird voodoo doll attached to her hip by a belt. </p><p>“I’m sorry.” Was the quiet response he received. On autopilot, Five reached down to grab her hand. </p><p>“You should be.” He hoisted her up from the ground easily. She was light, even by his standards. The girl looked at him funnily, as if she weren’t quite looking at him at all, but something behind him. </p><p>“You should change your attitude there, short stuff. It takes three to tango.” Five looked at her incredulously. While she was cute, he never expected to meet an idiot so soon. </p><p>“Excuse me?” He gasped out rather shocked. </p><p>She nodded to whatever was behind him, with a smile on her face. “We were supposed to meet.” She stated it very clearly, like she was reciting the weather. </p><p>Five, again, looked at the clearly moronic girl. “First of all, while there are eight main types of tango, I can say with the utmost certainty it takes two people to tango, not three. Second of all, I would rather not have met you at all.”</p><p>The girl wasn’t disarmed by Five’s tactlessness, in fact, it encouraged her smile to broaden. “We know you would rather have not met me, so that is why we met.”</p><p>Five took back everything he thought before. This girl was clearly mental. “I’m leaving.”</p><p>She merely followed him through the classroom door, her worn down backpack slung over her shoulder. Her steps were very light and airy, almost like she was dancing on some other sort of plane. This was in contrast to Five’s loud stomping as he entered the main portion of the room.</p><p>Large desks were set up in various shapes, numbers of students varying at each. He swiftly wove his way in and out of the tables and chairs, scanning each name plate taped securely onto the surface. The girl trailed behind him the whole time. Choosing to ignore her, Five finally located his name tag. His place was at the back of the classroom, next to the window. It was practical in case of a fire, and also inconspicuous as he could get away with doing outside work in peace. </p><p>He placed his briefcase on top of his desk, then slid out his chair. Five turned as he heard shuffling next to him, and a thump of another body sitting down beside him. Hesitant towards seeing who was next to him, he slowly worked up the courage to quickly eye them. To his disdain, it was the girl from before. He held in a huff as he looked at her name tag. He let out a warbled noise of confusion as he saw what it read.</p><p>Klaus Herrmann </p><p>He looked up to the girl, no, boy, who was currently humming to himself. He was playing with the creepy doll that was originally on his waist. Five, made another sound of shock. It was embarrassingly high pitched and scratchy. The boy looked at him, concern shone brightly in his green eyes. </p><p>“Are you okay?” There was a genuine look of concern there that Five couldn’t be mad at. </p><p>“You’re a boy.” Klaus’ mouth upturned slightly, in a rather charming smile. </p><p>“That’s what Mutti told me all this time.” Klaus stared intently as Five’s young eyes roamed down to his skirt then back up to his eyes. He opened his mouth, yet no words exitted. Some sentiment of understanding clicked in Klaus’ mind. “My skirt?”</p><p>“Yes!” Five finally managed to spit out. </p><p>“Isn’t it pretty?” Five couldn’t really argue with that logic. It was a pretty skirt, and it looked very nice on Klaus, if that was the image he was going for. </p><p>Now resigned, Five let his voice squeak out, “Nice dress.”</p><p>Klaus let out these uncontrollably cute giggling noises with an occasional snort that wasn’t annoying like in some people, but sort of endearing on him. Five felt his face flush madly, and was inclined to just sink into oblivion, or his equations. Whichever came before the bell.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Others</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Five's gonna actually shoot someone, but not really cause this is kindergarten.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Not Beta read. Not really read at all HAHAHA I'm so sorry.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>If Five believed his day to have started in an embarrassing manner, it only worsened from there on as his other deskmates began to trickle in. In total, there were seven students situated at his table, including himself and that idiot Klaus (who he didn’t really believe to count as a whole person because Five wasn’t convinced Klaus had everything there, mentally speaking). </p><p>The next person to join their bandwagon was a mousey girl named Vanya. She seemed nice enough, competent enough to hold a conversation, but the way she would squeak when she was startled was getting quickly annoying. She had introduced herself with great hesitancy to Klaus and himself. Five only gave a jerky nod and his name in return, while Klaus took it upon himself to go on a tangent of how much he loved her choice of clothing. Five tuned out when he heard the word silk more than twice. </p><p>After Vanya came another girl who was rather tall with extremely curly hair, dark skin and an enthusiastic timbre to her voice. Her name was Allison, and she would not shut up. Unfortunately for Five, every word she said made him feel as if he were losing brain cells and precious time, all at once. This was probably due to the fact the only thing that came out of her mouth was mindless gossip. Five would have honestly rather heard Klaus talk about fabrics or in cryptic sentences then hear another ‘I heard a rumor’ nonsense. </p><p>Diego came about ten minutes after Allison. He was very tan with short, dark hair, and a very recognizable stutter. Like Vanya, he seemed rather shy. He seemed queasy when Allison tried to talk his ear off, but seemed to ease up when Klaus stuck out his hand and offered him this absurdly gentle smile, like he knew that this was more difficult than it should be on him. Diego took his hand graciously, a blush spreading his cheeks from possible embarrassment. Five Scoffed arrogantly because Diego wasn’t really special. </p><p>When Five first laid eyes upon the mountain that was Luther, his initial thought was that the boy had the wrong classroom. Unfortunately, he scraped his chair back, and sat down promptly, his body stiffening as everyone stared in awe. Klaus was the first one to break the silence that everyone seemed very uncomfortable to test. </p><p>“You’re huge!” Luther flushed an angry red color. His face getting blotchy all the way up to the tips of his ears. </p><p>“I know.” He mumbled in an ashamed sort of way. Five almost laughed at the gap in his personality and looks. </p><p>“Klaus, that isn’t a nice thing to say to someone.” It wasn’t a voice that any of them had heard yet. It was an outsider who was approaching their table at a leisure pace. There was an open book in his hand that read Antiogne. An interesting choice for a kindergartener. Maybe there was hope to find competency in this hole of idiots, yet, Five thought hopefully. </p><p>Klaus sprung up so fast, Five got whacked in the face with the stupid doll attached at his hip. “Benny-Boy!” </p><p>The skirt wearing boy jumped onto the frame of the young asian, whom he clearly knew. As if he were used to the treatment, the boy, Ben, grasped onto the other by the waist as he clung to him like Koala. It wouldn’t have surprised Five if Klaus were to be part Koala. Koalas somehow managed to develop a strict diet for a poisonous plant they shouldn’t have been able to digest, but generations of stubbornness led to the development of their hindgut which made it possible. Only such idiocy and stubbornness would be traits in a boy like Klaus. Plus, his name started with ‘k’, Five thought juveinally. </p><p>Ben simply held Klaus up while maintaining the safety of his book, and began to walk Klaus back to where he was sitting. He plopped Klaus back down as if it were his job to nurture the poor fool. Five imagined it would have been a terrible job to have, but it seemed as if Ben didn’t have any qualms about it. He was quite content with his duties to care for the boy as a servant would their young master. Five wondered about their relationship, but let the curiosity simmer on the backburners of his already preoccupied mind. </p><p>“I’m sorry about Klaus,” Ben said as he sat down on the other side of Five. he stared directly at Luther. “He means well, he just doesn’t have much of a filter formed.”</p><p>“That is not true!” Klaus squawked indignantly. </p><p>Ben’s lips quipped up and he shook his head. “I’m Ben Choi, nice to meet you guys.” They all nodded quietly, with varying levels of energy. Allison had the most, and she quickly began to chat off the new boy’s ear. </p><p>“Hey, I’m Allison! How do you know Klaus? Are you excited for school? What are you reading? I heard a rumor that we would be getting some reading assignments from some of the older students!” Her questions came in a continuous stream, but Five listened as Ben chose to answer the ones he could catch.</p><p>“Klaus and I live in the same neighborhood. We’ve known each other since we were babies.” He put his book away in his satchel-bag. “I’m just reading this play. My brother had it lying around and he wanted me to see if I could comprehend it. I think he’s too lazy to read it himself.”</p><p>Five began to tune out the rest of their conversations. Since everyone arrived, and everyone formally met each other, he decided he had been courteous enough. It was now his time to make strides in his project. Proving time travel was entirely possible was not going to solve itself, he thought absentmindedly. He quickly snapped open his briefcase to find the journal of his notes he slipped into his bag at six o’clock sharp. He let out a wail of contempt.</p><p>His notes weren’t there. Just a single piece of paper with his father’s handwriting on it. </p><p>‘Hey son, stay focused. Love Dad! ;)’</p><p>Five may have had anger issues. There were some days he would grow so frustrated if his progress went stagnant, that he would start ripping apart his research. Sometimes he would throw an occasional tantrum, which he claimed as good old fashioned protest, when he did not get a tiny cup of coffee in the evening. He may have also had slight problems with being undermined by people who were supposed to show him unconditional love. If they loved him so much why were they making him suffer? Wasn’t it enough that they made him interact with people who probably lacked the fine motor control to even properly tie their shoelaces together?</p><p>While Five was exceptionally smart, he struggled greatly when it came to anything that resembled social interactions. He wasn’t blinded by illusory superiority that most people were. He knew that he lacked greatly when it came to communication. He knew he had the means to maintain a perfectly civil, albeit dumbed down, conversation with kids his age. The issue he faced was that he felt it was beneath him to lower his standards for others. If people couldn’t keep up with him, it wasn’t his problem. </p><p>His only true escape from interacting with his ‘peers’ was his notes, and now he didn’t even have them to continue. His parents willingly stuck him between a rock and hard place, and they would be discussing this at great lengths by the time four-thirty hit and he was fastened into their family car. Instead of falling into his parents' plan for him to interact, he decided to win by sitting quietly, and stewing in his warranted anger.</p>
<p>

As if Klaus knew something was wrong, his attention quickly snapped to the little explosion waiting to happen. Five didn’t even glance towards him in acknowledgement, though he felt the piercing gaze of his big eyes on his frame. Instead, he continued to stare angrily at the note before he ripped it apart and shoved the little bits back into his bag. He had plans of throwing them on the kitchen table in the not so near enough future. </p><p>Just as Klaus was about to speak, Allison and her incessant chatter cut through Five’s brooding. Her voice sparked even more anger, but her question almost caused a full blown explosion. “What kind of name is ‘Five’?” </p><p>“Five is the symbol of balance, health, individualism, and even perfection. My parents clearly thought highly of me. I’m a prodigy,” Five stated smugly, a fire that was burning from spite was fueled. “I could be in college right now, studying with esteemed colleagues, and instead I am here associating myself with incompetent buffoons such as yourself. Did you know the Greek origins of Allison means truth? It’s funny to think that is what your name means when all that comes out of your mouth is useless and biased rumors.”</p><p>Allison’s face was paling by the second, her lower lip trembling as Five ranted. He didn’t really care. Everything he had said had been true, he just didn’t care enough to word it nicely to her. The girl did need to shut up somehow. If Five stating his beliefs did it efficiently, then so be it. He was very Machiavellian in the sense that he believed the end justifies the means. </p><p>The big ape of a boy, Luther, looked as if he were about to defend her honor, but the sound of clapping caught all their attention. At the front of the room stood a rather short and hairy man. Next to his side, a woman in an old fashioned dress and bright lipstick. The man had a surprisingly deep voice for his stature. </p><p>“Hello, young students. My name is Mr. Pogo, and this is my teaching assistant, Mrs. Grace. I will be in charge of your homeroom studies throughout your career at the Umbrella Academy. Welcome to your first class.” </p><p>Klaus shot his hand up, and the man quirked up his eyebrow, but gestured for him to ask away. Klaus smiled a bright and youthful grin. “Were you a chimpanzee in a different life?” </p><p>Five, along with the rest of his class and teachers looked at the boy with mixed emotions. Some in amusement, others in horror, and a few with unreadable expressions. Five could tell, by looking at the seriousness on Klaus’ face, that he was not joking, and from the looks of it, was quite intent on knowing. It was if he expected a legitimate answer, too. Five almost groaned from his suffering. This would be a long year.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>It's not gonna be like thousands of chapters of kindergarten, more like a few chapters of elementary school, some more of middle, some of high school and then college. That's what I'm thinking. wHO KNOWS how it will actually go ahahaha</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Ridiculous</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I should really be doing a paper, but here we are. Five's a bit smitten but isn't quite sure.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I hate it.” Five declared loudly as he entered his Father’s car at the end of the day. </p><p>Five’s father chuckled amusedly at his son’s disheveled form. He saw strands of the boy’s hair sticking out wildly from his head. His tie was wrinkled as if he had been adjusting it all day. He had the usual manic look in his eye if he didn’t get his cup of coffee he demanded at six-thirty sharp. </p><p>“It’s only the first day, son. Did you really give it a chance?” Five gave him a look of incredulity as he gave him the evil eye. </p><p>“Don’t you patronize me! There is one girl who won’t shut up no matter how much you deter her, and believe me, I’ve tried.” Five’s father gave him a weary look. He knew how forthcoming his son could be when it came to insulting others. “Right next to her is a boy who can’t spit out what he wants to say because of his stupid stutter, and next to him is a mountain of a kid who is taller than the teacher.”</p><p>“Is there anyone you do like?” Five thought back to the boy in the skirt, with some creepy ritualistic doll. </p><p>“Hardly. One of them seems a little more competent than the others,” he admits begrudgingly, thinking about Ben and his peculiar choice of book. “But he hardly constitutes peer material. Besides, he’s friends with this ridiculous boy, who looks like one of those porcelain dolls mom keeps in the attic, dress and all, who looks at people with this ridiculous dreamy look in his eyes.”</p><p>Five’s father held a twinkle in his eye. “So how ridiculous is this boy?” He baited his young son.</p><p>Five threw his hands up in the air, much to the amusement of his father. He hadn’t seen his son this tightly wound in a long while. It was a nice change of pace to see how his son was finally acting a bit his age. While it was fun to hear him ranting about whatever equations he was formulating, he equally enjoyed hearing his son sound like a kid. </p><p>“So first, I thought this boy, Klaus, was a girl. He was wearing this ridiculously pretty skirt and was walking around with this doll around his waist. He also has these ridiculously large green eyes and says the stupidest and most cryptic things I have ever heard. He said it was ‘destiny that we met’ or something like that. Which is the dumbest thing I’ve heard, cause I’ve rather not met him at all.” Five rambled.</p><p>

“I’m guessing you told him the last part?” His father piped in, with a knowing look plastered on his face. </p><p>“Of course I did,” Five responded stubbornly before continuing. “And when it was time to introduce ourselves in a stupid circle, some idiot boy from another table tried to make fun of his skirt.”</p><p>“And what did you do about it?” </p><p>“Well I defended the poor idiot. He can’t stand up for himself. He’d just smile dumbly at them like they just blessed him with the best compliment in the world.” That is exactly what Klaus had done, Five thought angrily. </p><p>That idiot just stood there, smiling at something behind those boys, and gave this cheeky wink before gripping that doll he brought with him tightly around the neck. He didn’t warrant the other, stupider boy’s comment with an answer, but Five couldn’t let it go. If he didn’t nip this type of behavior in the bud, then it would continue throughout the year. For some reason, it irked the firecracker beyond belief that someone would make fun of someone else for their choice in clothing. Why not make fun of them for their inadequacy as a human being? Five thought back to his day. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They were all gathered around to sit in a circle on a colorful rug in the reading area. They were called up all at once, so the chaos of over twenty bodies wiggling their way to get the best seat on the carpet was overwhelming, to say the least. </p><p>Five had watched as Ben allowed Klaus to take his hand, and pull him childishly towards the rug. The Asian boy was content to leave Klaus to his own devices, even if it meant he was included. They clearly had a system going, where Klaus would lead and Ben would follow. There was a seed of something planted in Five over seeing the two lean into each other, and Five assumed it was disgust. Those two would be the first to get sick, with the way they were attached at the hip and the hand, Five thought cynically. </p><p>Instead of dwelling on this unknown feeling for any longer, Five scampered his way through the crowd in a blink of an eye, to sit on the other side of Klaus. He was the first person he met, and although he was sort of annoying, he’d rather sit next to Klaus than Allison. </p><p>Allison had taken to Vanya like a duck to water. It was probably because the smaller girl didn’t say much, and Allison already talked for two people. Vanya, herself, did not seem to mind this fact. She just stared wide eyed and content at Allison who talked a mile per minute. Luther, thank god, took to the other side of Allison. He, too, stared at her with this look of awe. It made Five scoff. What she was saying couldn’t be nearly as interesting as her following thought. </p><p>Just as Five was actually about to sit down, he heard the stuttering mess that was Diego. </p><p>“K-Klaus? C-c-c-can I s-sit n-next to y-you?” Klaus, the idiot that he was, gave him that dreamy and gentle smile that no five year old should have. Diego, in turn, flushed a warm pink. </p><p>Being resilient, and not deterred in the slightest by the threat, Five lunged aggressively to sit down next to the feminine boy. He quickly planted himself as an immovable form, hoping that Diego would take a hint and take a hike. Ben, Klaus, and Diego all looked at Five very confusedly. </p><p>“First of all, I refuse to sit beside Mauna Kea, over there,” Five jutted his thumb to gesture towards Luther. “Then we got the nose pickers and butt scratchers grouped over on the other side. We have the girls who are all fussing over whichever stupid pen they got for five dollars is better, and then we have right next to the teachers, which would make us either first to introduce ourselves, or last. You guys are in the middle.”</p><p>Five tried to logic his way out of his spontaneity as best he could. Diego seemed to buy it, as well as Klaus who nodded in agreement. The only one who gave him a weary, and mildly distrustful, look was Ben. Ben seemed to be calculating something, it showed in his eyes, as if he were computing and processing all the information he had just received. In the end, he must have determined that it did make a lot of sense, but there was still something that wasn’t clicking. </p><p>“Why didn’t you just sit next to me?” Five clicked his tongue aggravatedly before roaming his eyes around their surroundings. </p><p>“There’s a vent, right over your head. It’s blowing in the direction I would be sitting if I chanced sitting next to you,” Five responded promptly.</p><p>

The three other boys looked above and were greeted with the sight of a vent directly above Ben’s head, blowing air exactly where he said it would be. Ben knew this by sticking his arm in the spot, and feeling a chilling breeze tickle his thin, baby hairs. Finally accepting this as the truth, Ben gave his nod of approval. Five released the breath he was holding. </p><p>“Diego, you can sit with me next time, alright?” Klaus promised by sticking out his thin pinky for the darker haired boy to clasp with his own. Diego gave him this boyish smile, and his eyes crinkled at the promise. He latched his pinky with Klaus’. </p><p>“A-alright! Cool!” He nodded excitedly, before he decided to take a seat next to Five, wisely choosing to avoid the promised draft to Ben’s right. </p><p>Five’s face barely hid the souring look that crossed over it when he saw their promise. Why would Klaus make such a boring promise? Especially if he couldn’t keep it. Five wasn’t planning on not sitting next to Klaus in the future. They were seat buddies, Ben being the third wheel, of course. Diego should stick to his side of the table, Five told himself soundly. </p><p>Mr. Pogo cleared his throat to gain the attention of the buzzing students, who were happily chattering amongst themselves. He sat on a rather extravagant  mahogany chair, that was cushioned in a mustard yellow velvet. To his right, there sat Mrs. Grace, her legs crossed at the ankles upwards. She sat in a more sofa-style chair with bees and flowers patterning the material. Mr. Pogo gave a kind smile to the class. </p><p>“Quiet everybody, quiet. I thought before we get into our class expectations, we may introduce ourselves to one another. Getting acquainted is the first step on our journey. I’ll start off by telling you my name and three things about myself, one answer could be about a special talent.” Mr. Pogo’s eyes glanced over Five and his other tablemates.  </p><p>The Umbrella Academy was known for collecting students with extraordinary abilities in certain subjects. He had easily passed their tests and was awarded a full scholarship for his extraordinary abilities in math and science. There were a handful of students who also were awarded merit based scholarships based on what the academy thought as necessary for their diversity. Most of the population, though, were formed of students whose parents were able to pay the high tuition rates. There were only a handful of scholarships handed out each year. Only seven, Five thought to himself, were usually handed out. </p><p>“Is everyone ready to have their listening ears on?” Mrs. Grace asked expectantly. Five rolled his eyes in distaste. This was practically an insult to his intelligence</p><p>“Yes, Mrs. Grace.” They responded obediently. </p><p>“Take it away, Mr. Pogo,” Mrs. Grace smiled happily at the stout man. She clapped her hands gently, in a show of excitement. </p><p>“Hello class, my name is Mr. Pogo. I’ve been teaching at this academy for over thirty years, my favorite subject to teach is history, and I love fruits.” He gestured for Mrs. Grace to go next. She happily took over.</p><p>“Hello everyone, my name is Mrs. Grace, I’ve been working at the academy for ten years, a third of Mr. Pogo’s time, I love to watch my students grow, and I bake very often.” Five noticed that her second comment wasn’t really about her, but he chose not to mention it. </p><p>One by one, the students in his class droned on about boring facts they thought were fascinating about themselves. They would talk about pets or toys, favorite colors or foods, and even some would boast about their vacation homes in Bali. These children were so young, but they acted like forty-year-olds who liked to host parties to brag about their lavish lives. Five tuned them out until it got up to Ben.</p><p>“Hi, I’m Ben,” he started off quietly. “I am here on a scholarship for writing, specifically for my poetry and short stories. I like to hang out in the laundromat down the street and I like to adventure with Klaus.” </p><p>Klaus grasped Ben’s hand tightly, giving it a gentle squeeze, before Klaus stood up. The other kids were startled at his sudden movements, but Ben just gave a worried frown. It looked as those he had seen these small outbursts of energy before.</p><p>“Hi everyone! My name is Klaus. My mom says I am here because they gave me some award thing for art. Said they saw my work in a gallery, and I s’pose they had to have it. I like doing palm readings with my mom, and I also like to go adventuring with Benny.” </p><p>“Why do you dress like a girl? It’s weird.” Some boy called out to Klaus after he had finished his introduction. </p><p>Klaus just stood there and smiled at him, or rather something near him. He gave a small wink, much to the other boy's horror, and Five's anger. He gripped the doll at his side tightly, but remained silent. Klaus didn’t dignify the boy with a response, but Mr. Pogo interrupted with a frown darkening his face. He spoke up calmly, but there was a darker note in his voice.</p><p>“Now Charlie, Klaus’ choice of clothing may seem eccentric to you, but this is what Klaus is comfortable with. His clothing isn’t hurting you physically. Why are you against it?” Mr. Pogo questioned.</p><p>“It’s wrong. Boys don’t wear skirts like girls. And, he looks like a girl. Are you sure you’re not a girl? It would be less gross if you were one.” Charlie spoke to Klaus at the end. Klaus, again, didn’t respond to the boy’s insistence.</p><p>“Why are girls still gross? You’re the gross one.” Allison piped in, looking personally affronted. “It’s rude to bully someone for no good reason.”</p><p>For once, Five agreed with Allison. Charlie, did not. “I have a good reason. He’s a freak! And he said he does witchy stuff with his mom. Magic is not real! He’s just a big liar!”</p><p>Having enough of the nonsense, Five finally spoke up. “Would you shut up, you daft moron? There is nothing wrong with his fashion sense or his pastimes. He’s obviously more astounding than you are, to get one of the seven scholarships this school hands out. You just bought your way in with your parents’ old money. You’re nothing but a leech who sucks out all the nourishment and resources of your family. So, would you kindly shut up and stop polluting the air with idiocy?”</p><p>Even though Five would have preferred to avoid touching people as much as possible, even his own family (they said it’s a sensory thing), he grabbed Klaus’ hand, which was surprisingly soft for being so boney, and tugged him to sit back down. Klaus, in return, stumbled ungracefully, like a newborn fawn, as he tumbled back to a seated position to be sandwiched between Five and Ben. </p><p>“Five, Charlie,” Mr. Pogo started carefully. “We will talk later today.”</p><p>Five wasn’t quite listening, because his cheeks were now glowing in a maddeningly red color. His hand was still clasped tightly around Klaus’. Klaus looked at him like he hung the stars in the sky, and personally rebuilt the moon to be even bigger and brighter than it already was. </p><p>“Are you now my knight? Sir Fivey?” Five’s blush started travelling across his whole body. He quickly pulled his hand out of the other boy’s grasp. </p><p>He turned his head away to the side. Avoiding all eye contact with practically everyone. He felt his hand trembling out of embarrassment and slight disorientation. He did always have a problem with authority, and idiots, and he just dug himself a grave. Mr. Pogo would probably talk to his parents about this at the next parent-teacher conference. Five couldn’t find it in himself to care about it too much. His hand was still warm from when he had gripped Klaus’ tightly. It was gross, he tried to convince himself. It didn't quite work. </p><p>“Don’t be ridiculous.”</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Parent-Teacher Conferences Gone Wrong</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This isn't proofread, again. Lmao I'm so sorry</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Mr. Pogo did, in fact, end up talking to Five’s parents at the next parent-teacher conference. It was scheduled for the end of September, when the air was getting a slight underbite of a chill in it. Five’s parents went in expecting the worst. What they got was a bit of entertainment at watching their son’s teacher try to remain entirely neutral without pulling his hair out at their son’s antics. </p><p>“Dr. Adler, Dr. Beckett, welcome.” Mr. Pogo greeted Five’s parents dutifully. “Thank you for coming. Please, sit down, enjoy some refreshments.”</p><p>“You can just call us Eileen and Vincent,” Five’s father spoke mirthfully. </p><p>Mr. Pogo smiled, and nodded before he gestured to the chairs that sat before his desk, and then to some cookies and other various treats that Grace had baked in a fury a day before the meetings took place. She was a fantastic baker. </p><p>“Thank you for having us,” Five’s mother, Dr. Eileen Beckett, spoke. “I hope Five hasn’t been too much trouble. We know how he can be.”</p><p>Mr. Pogo seemed to nod with her words, before shaking his head. “Your son is a very remarkable student, very studious and tenacious at whatever he sets his mind to. He is excelling way above average than almost all his peers.”</p><p>“Almost all?” Dr. Vincent Adler, the boy’s father, cut in. </p><p>“Well, the principle of the school, Sir Reginald Hargreeves, believed it would be good to put all the scholarship students together. Since they were especially exceptional candidates this year. He thought by grouping them together, it may stimulate healthy competition, even friendship, between them.”</p><p>“Well that does sound promising, but is Five struggling against someone? You made it seem like he couldn’t keep up with them.” Eileen spoke concernedly. She never knew her child to struggle at academics.</p><p>“He isn’t struggling,” Mr. Pogo assured. “We have one boy, Ben, who excels in literature and writing, but he is also very good at math and science. It seems that there is a bit of a rivalry between them. Just some good old fashioned boyhood competition.”</p><p>Vincent looked at his wife, who returned the gaze just as intensely. Maybe it was good that someone was challenging their son. He never did find someone his age who could keep up with him. They would have to meet with the other boy’s parents; hopefully, they could set up a time where they could hang out like friends. </p><p>“I’m glad he has found someone who challenges him.” Eileen spoke sweetly, but she frowned as she saw Mr. Pogo shake his head as if he were disagreeing with the statement. </p><p>“While Ben challenges him academically, it is another boy who your son seems to be,” Mr. Pogo paused, trying to find the right word to describe the situation with Klaus, “swept away with.”</p><p>Vincent thought back to his son’s first day of school. “It wouldn’t happen to be a boy who loves skirts, and has green eyes?” </p><p>Mr. Pogo’s eyes lit up like a wildfire. “Yes, Klaus! He’s here on an art scholarship. His work is absolutely breathtaking. I’m just worried about the relationship between the two.”</p><p>Vincent and Eileen eyed each other wearily. “Five, he didn’t do anything to this boy, did he?” </p><p>Mr. Pogo sucked in a breath. “Well, there have been some incidents that have raised some concern. Just last week, for example. There was a self study time, and Klaus was working on a painting for Sir Hargreeve’s personal gallery. A girl bumped into him, causing paint to spill all over his canvas. It was a complete accident, and the girl apologized right away.”</p><p>“I don’t see what this has to do with Five,” the boy’s mother spoke up. </p><p>“Well,” Mr. Pogo continued hesitantly. He eyed both eyed both of the doctors sitting across from him, hoping they would understand. “Five decided to take it upon himself to cut her stuffed animal’s head and limbs off, and leave it on her desk. I know it was him, as the adult scissors were stored away in his desk when I asked everyone to empty their belongings. I had taken him aside to ask why he did it, and he simply said he was just ruining something she cared about, because she ‘so carelessly ruined something that didn’t belong’ to her.” </p><p>“Our Five is still learning the ins and outs of what is socially acceptable and unacceptable. We apologize for his behavior. He lacks greatly when it comes to communication and morals, even. Was this the only time?” Eileen asked hopefully.</p><p>Mr. Pogo groaned and shook his head no. This time, it was the two parents who groaned disheartened. </p><p>“There was another incident when another boy in class decided to take Klaus’ doll hostage. Just some playful jesting, I assure you. Five didn’t take this lightly, so he took the boy’s backpack and dumped it in the garbage can, and after told him he should jump in there too because ‘that is where useless wastes of oxygen thieves go to die.’”</p><p>Mr. Pogo droned on. He talked about how a kid tripped Klaus, so Five shoved him so his face was planted into the concrete ground outside of the school. When Klaus’ lunch money was stolen, Five tracked down the culprit and attempted to duct tape him to a chair to begin his method of retribution. An older student in the fourth grade decided that it would be funny to get Klaus to jump off the swing set, and Five tried to wrap the chain around his neck. </p><p>“I’m just worried about this violent behavior. I have been avoiding going to the principal about it, but I fear I may have no other choice if his attitude doesn’t change.” Mr. Pogo chose not to add the fact that Reginald Hargreeves wouldn’t do much of anything, as all of his scholarship students were precious. </p><p>“We will most certainly talk to Five about these violent outbursts. I am so sorry that you had to deal with this all this time!” Vincent spoke nervously. The academy was exceptionally pristine and highly rated in the country. They couldn’t risk Five getting kicked out for such outlandish behavior.</p><p>“Is Klaus okay?” Eileen questioned with worry dotting her expression. </p><p>“Well, it appears that-” Mr. Pogo was cut off by the sound of his classroom door opening. The three adults turned to look at the interruption, only to be met by a woman with curly blonde hair, and forest green eyes barreling towards them. </p><p>She wore flowy drapes of clothing, giving her a very spiritual look. There was a scarf tied loosely around her head, and her body was adjourned with different talismans and ancient looking jewelry. She had a bright smile on her face, as she stormed the classroom, barefoot. It was an odd quirk, Five’s parents noticed. </p><p>“You must be the knight’s parents!” Her voice was deeper than they expected, rougher, and heavily accented with Germanic influence. “They told me you would be here at this time!”</p><p>Mr. Pogo, looking a bit worse for wear, tried to be patient with the foreign woman. “Mrs. Herrmann, I am so sorry to ask you to wait, but this is Dr. Adler and Beckett’s time.”</p><p>“No,” she stated stubbornly, a broad grin stretching over her face. She was very beautiful, the couple noted. Very whimsical. “I need to thank you two!”</p><p>“Thank us?” Eileen squeaked as the woman brought her into a tight hug. </p><p>“But of course, my Klaus says your son is a protector! Very fierce warrior? Kind of small, has the personality of a wet cat, but very gentle with my son? He can grow out of the small thing. I see you two are a fine couple. Tall, sturdy bunch. Come to my home and I will give you free reading and spell for vitality.” Five’s parents looked as if they had been hit with something they couldn’t quite understand.</p><p>“I think we are missing something here, I was told that Five was a bit violent. We were worried his protectiveness caused Klaus discomfort.” Vincent spoke wearily. </p><p>“No, no! Klaus tells me great things. So do the spirits. They think he has a very brave soul. Very big, like that tall kid.” Luther, thought Mr. Pogo.</p><p>“I’m sorry, did you say spirits?” Eileen asked curiously. </p><p>“You want to channel someone gone, yes? Would her name be Martha, by any chance? She has a very nice soul. Very caring, kind of a hard one, yes? She says that you should give Five her husband’s old briefcase. Keep it in the family.” </p><p>Vincent looked at his wife, who was palling by the second. Her mother, Martha had died about seven years ago to ovarian cancer. She always had wanted to meet her grandchild before she passed, but she never got around to it. Vincent wasn’t quite sure how this woman knew.</p><p>“She says she left it in a storage unit. Anyways, I am Sabine. It is nice to meet the protector’s parents. I’m afraid I cannot stay long. Klaus and I are performing a very special ritual tonight, and it is starting very soon.” She reached into her skirt pocket, and pulled out a piece of paper with what they assumed to be her number scribbled across it. “Call me any time. I will know it’s you. Auf wiedersehen.”</p><p>In a flurry of movements, and thumping feet, the woman who had entered so abruptly, left just the way she came. It was like a storm rolling through for a brief period before all they were left with was the aftermath. Five’s parents looked to Pogo, who seemed to be equally as shaken up by her appearance and disappearance.</p><p>“Is her son anything like her?” Eileen asked, pressing a hand to her forehead to try and ease some of the forming tension.</p><p>“I doubt Klaus got any traits from his father except the dark hair.”</p><p>Five’s parents shook their head in mild amusement and disbelief. To believe their child had grown a fascination for someone as different as he was shouldn’t be that surprising, but it was still hard to wrap their heads around. Well, as long as their son was happy.</p><p>Five would still be getting a stern talking to about his guerilla warfare like tactics he used to approach situations that he didn’t like. His parents wanted to squash his psychopathic tendencies as soon as possible.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Planning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The parent-teacher conference wore out Five’s parents, but not to the extent in which they could not scold him the minute they walked through the door. Five heard the sound of the car at the end of their driveway first, then the slamming of the door, the sound of footsteps up the long staircase, then finally a knock on his bedroom door.</p><p>“I’m not apologizing for anything.” Five outed himself as he opened the door for his parents to enter. He quickly made his way back over to his white board, picking up the nearest expo marker and began fiddling with some numbers scrawled messily across its surface. </p><p>“We wouldn’t have expected you to, sweetie.” His mother sat down on his tidy bed. “We just want to talk to you about the aggressiveness you have when you start things.”</p><p>“Your teacher made it aware that you’ve taken it as a mission to protect this one boy-”</p><p>“Klaus,” Five added, helpfully. </p><p>“Klaus.” His father pursed his lips. “We just want you to be aware that your actions have consequences. Doing things that will purposefully hurt others is not okay to do, especially in this household. We know your goal was to protect your friend, but from what it sounds like, you hurt these other children, or attempted to, as an act of vengeance.” </p><p>Five scoffed. “If I stop purposefully hurting other kids, can this conversation be over?”</p><p>“No.” Both his parents spoke sternly. Five sighed.</p><p>“We want to know why you reacted so impulsively. We just want to help you work through any internal conflict you may be feeling, so you can address it better in the future.” His mom reached out to pet his hair. He avoided her contact by swaying back on his feet. She frowned. </p><p>“Approaching everything with violence as your first answer will never end well,” his father told him. “There will be a time when violence will only come back to bite you. You might even hurt someone you care about. Do you understand why this is a concern?</p><p>Five nodded. He did know that violence wasn’t the answer, it had been embedded into his mind since the day he tried to attack one of his tutor’s for talking to him like he was actually his age. He just didn’t understand why it couldn’t be an answer. It didn’t have to be the number one plan, but he would like to have it as a possibility. </p><p>“It’s maddening,” Five admitted slowly, his voice sounding small and distant. He didn’t like talking about feelings. He usually saw them as trivial setbacks he needed to overcome to further his mind to be focused on scientific discoveries and advances in arithmetics. </p><p>“Could you elaborate a little, son?” His dad joked warm heartedly. Five only pouted in response. His mouth quirked downwards, his eyebrow ticked a little bit in annoyance. </p><p>“These idiots always bother Klaus, for next to nothing. I mean, sure, he can sing really loudly, and it isn’t terrible but it does get annoying. Yes, he talks to things that aren’t really there, but it doesn’t hurt anybody. But these sniveling brats think that it’s okay to pick on him, or use him as a doormat because he believes in non-violence. And Klaus won’t pay attention to me trying to help him with his spelling because he’s too busy hearing what those morons have to say to him.” By the time Five was done, he was panting heavily, frustration clear in his eyes. </p><p>His parents got a knowing look on their face, one that looked like enlightenment. Their mouths formed into a tiny ‘o’ shape, and they let out a sigh of relief. This seemed to be just a childish infatuation. Something that would pass. </p><p>“Aren’t you just mad that he isn’t putting all his attention on you?” His father asked sagely.</p><p>Five made a look mixed of disgust  and confusion. “Why would I want his attention on me?” he squawked out, mildly concerned for his parents’ wellbeing. They were proposing ridiculous ideas. </p><p>“We’ll tell you when you’re older; just stop attacking other kids as retribution for injuring your fair maiden, brave sir knight. I’m sure Klaus will pay as much attention to you as you want, if you just ask for it.” His father ruffled his hair, much to Five’s discontent, as he and his mother walked out of the room. </p><p>“Just tell me now!” Five protested angrily, steam practically blowing out of his ears, as his parents closed the door to his cave. He heard laughing trickle off down the hall, and he grumpily sat himself back at his desk. He wasn’t pouting, he was just letting his anger calm down before he went to bed. It was never good to go to bed in a foul mood. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>As the weeks flew by, Five did try to control that budding homicidal rage he felt towards anyone who bothered him, or Klaus. He didn’t necessarily understand why it bothered him so much to see Klaus upset, but it did. He didn’t like to see the boy’s lip wobble if someone was being especially cruel about whatever skirt he was wearing. He hated when he’d get a skinned knee during gym class because one of the other kids shoved him too hard during a game of tag. He especially didn’t like when someone else would help him up. Five didn’t do it often, because he didn’t want to touch anybody, but he had chosen to occasionally make an exception for Klaus.</p><p>The issue was that Klaus always needed someone to help keep him upright, or pick him off of the ground, or he needed someone to fully lean into, because he always wanted some type of physical contact. Five shivered at the idea of allowing someone to touch him more than necessary. He had set a rule up that the maximum amount of skin to skin contact time he would allow would be three seconds. No exceptions were to be made.</p><p>Except that Five wanted to make an exception for the stupid boy who wore cute skirts, and had very pretty green eyes. Five didn’t dwell on this thought too much, as it took time away from formulating new theories. Instead, he just embraced that taking care of Klaus was a daily task: wake up and get ready for school, try to convince parents into giving him a cup of coffee for the road, go to school and get to class, protect Klaus from danger, go home, work on his projects. </p><p>Klaus seemed to have no qualms about getting a faithful bodyguard, or knight as he liked to call him. Five wasn’t necessarily a shadow like Ben was to the boy. Instead, if Klaus was in trouble, all he had to do was blink and open his eyes in order to be met with Five’s back protecting him from whatever he deemed oncoming fire from a now public enemy. The other teacher’s found it charming, Mr. Pogo, found it tedious. </p><p> </p><p>What really stirred things up was the coming of October 1st. To Five’s surprise, much to everyone of his tablemate’s, they had come to find out they all had the same birthday. It was rather frightening to think about. Two people sharing a birthday was plausible, as the birthday paradox states that out of twenty-three people, they have a fifty percent chance of having the same birthday. Seven people out of twenty-three having the same birthday was ridiculous, and should be considered as such. </p><p>Still, his group mates were rather excited by this fact, and Five too was fascinated by this knowledge. Them being the only seven members of The Umbrella Academy to hold scholarships was also very, very peculiar. It should be improbable, it shouldn’t have been true, but it was. It made Five want to study the probability straight away. </p><p>“I think we should have a joint birthday party,” said Allison as she colored in the picture at the top of her paper. “A sleepover.”</p><p>“That could be really fun,” Vanya whispered softly. She was doodling music notes by her name. </p><p>“I’ve never had a birthday party before,” Luther admits. He was finishing writing his lines of the alphabet. </p><p>“Klaus and I usually celebrate together, and it is usually fun. I’m sure adding even more people would make it more fun.” Ben smiles lightly, turning the page of the book he was reading. He, along with five, had finished the classwork awhile ago. </p><p>“I’m n-n-not sure i-if  m-my abuela would let m-me. S-she i-is cautious a-a-about people she’s n-n-never m-met before.” Diego mumbled dejectedly under his breath.</p><p>“My babushka is like that too,” Vanya spoke up, looking at Diego with understanding in her eyes. The mood seemed to drop at these statements. Klaus took this as his moment to speak up.</p><p>“How about I introduce my mother and I to them today, and anyone else’s for that matter. That way they won’t be strangers. Plus they could talk on the phone to get things set up.” Klaus offers kindly to them all. </p><p>“No, Klaus. Don’t do that. They’ll never be able to have the sleepover then.” Ben cut in sharply. The table turned to look at him. </p><p>“Why not, Ben?” Klaus whined as he draped himself over the Asian boy. Five felt his eyebrow twitch.</p><p>“Klaus, your mother is very eccentric. I love her, I really do, but even my parents were weary about her. They were convinced she practiced dark magic. You know how superstitious they are. It took months for me to convince them that you guys were not working to steal our souls.” Ben tried to explain it gently, Five could tell, but all it did was make Klaus’ lip do that little wobble when he was about to start tearing up.</p><p>Five wasn’t weak, he just didn’t want to hear Klaus cry. Or see him cry, because that made him really mad, and he didn’t need his parents to be concerned about another homicidal outbreak. He didn’t know why it made him mad to think about tears obstructing Klaus’ really pretty eyes, but it did. Thinking about it too long made him even angrier, because he couldn’t figure out why he was even angry in the first place. On a whim, Five decided to take things into his own hands, in a non-violent way. </p><p>“My parents both have doctorates, and we live in a gated community. This makes them pretty reliable in the eyes of other adults. If you want, we can host this party at my house,” he paused to make sure he had everyone’s attention. Klaus’ stupid, big eyes were staring at him in awe, and it made Five’s chest swell with some sickly sweet feeling. “I can also ask them to talk to your parents today. Just make sure you get them to stay behind at the front entrance.” </p><p>There was a beat of silence before there was an uproar at their small, corner table. Much to the distaste of Mrs. Grace and Mr. Pogo, who made a ‘tsk’ sound at them, and asked them to be a little more courteous to their fellow classmates. This did not deter the seven from beaming very happily. </p><p>Different variations of ‘Five, you’re the best’ were said, but Five didn’t care too much. Klaus stopped his almost crying, after all. That was the goal. What Five didn’t expect was for Klaus to hug him very tightly, while he spluttered in a very indigent manner. </p><p>“Get off me, you fool!” He cried desperately, his arms flailing uselessly at his side, not actually striking the boy assaulting him in fear of hurting him. He was quite fragile looking. He’d probably break easily.</p><p>“But you’re being so nice, Fivey! You deserve a reward.” Klaus exclaimed loudly. The others at the table were laughing at the pretty boy’s antics. </p><p>“This is punishment!” Five lied lamely. It seemed like everyone else knew it wasn’t true too, including Klaus, who just hugged him tighter.</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Birthdays Part 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Okay, so I had this idea. What if I made this into a series? That way I could have things more focused on target audiences? So this series would be about their elementary school days, the next about middle school and shitty puberty, high school would probably have some angst and I would probably make the epilogue their lives in college and adulthood in the last chapter. JUST A THOUGHT. It would be great to hear feedback on this idea. Also, I may change the title. I really just put it there to have something down LOL thanks for reading. Again, this is never proofread mainly because its so early in the fricking morning but here we are. HAVE FUN HAVE A GOOD DAY I need sleep-</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When Five had practically jumped his mother in the school parking lot, demanding she let him host this party called a ‘sleepover’ he didn’t really expect his whims to be met. There must have been some unwanted urgency, possibly desperation, leaking into his voice, for his mother to agree to follow after him to meet the parents and guardians of his table mates. </p><p>Eileen knew that Five had the tendency to be a bit impetuous, no matter how much he denied this. He was usually quite good about thinking things through, especially if they were related to any of his projects. What his mother also knew was that Five was a very caring person under all that hissy fitting he did at times. That meant he was easily swayed by his emotions.</p><p>For Five to willingly want to celebrate his birthday with others and not do research on his big day was an outrageous thing that Eileen couldn’t have been happier about. For him to outright demand a party, of all things, was even more heart-stopping. Eileen knew that this must be important for Five, and it meant that it was important to her. She would do whatever it would take to make the sleepover happen for her son. If it was just the task of gaining the trust of parents and guardians, Eileen was confident in her ability.</p><p>Five had tried to dart ahead, but his mother just gripped him by the shoulder, lightly, to keep him by her side. She asked, over the bustling noise of cars and people, “What made you decide to host a party? I’m very happy about it.” She added at the end.</p><p>“Allison just brought it up, and everyone got really excited. Then Diego got sad because he doesn’t think his grandma will be comfortable with him going to a random person’s house; Vanya’s grandma, too. Klaus offered to let his mom talk to their parents, but Ben didn’t think it would be a good idea. He said it was because she was kind of weird, or something.” Five summarized. </p><p>Sabine was a very unique character, Eileen’s conscious provided. She seemed like a nice woman who had her heart in the right place, but Eileen could see how some people would be weary of her. She was a bit unconventional, and just different. People didn’t tend to react well to what was different. This was probably due to the lack of knowledge and exposure, but mainly ignorance, to anything that wasn’t pertinent in society’s eyes.  </p><p>“Well, I’d be happy to work things out with everyone. I want to be able to do this for you.” Five’s mother was very kindhearted, especially weak towards her son, and also very determined in helping him make friends and broaden his horizons. </p><p>“Thanks,” Five spoke genuinely.</p><p>By the time their fast walking, thanks to the pace Five set, had taken them to the school entrance, there was already a tiny group of children and parents settled in and talking amongst themselves. Vanya and Diego’s grandmothers were chatting idly. Luther’s mother and Allison’s father were in a deep conversation, and Ben and Klaus’ mothers were chatting animatedly about who knows what. </p><p>When Five and his mother reached the group, all eyes were snapped to them. The children’ were waving to Five, who just gave a slight nod in acknowledgement, while the parents and grandparents were fixated on  his mom. Five knew his mother was a good public speaker, but he really did hope that she didn’t mess up. He was putting a lot of pressure on her to make this happen. </p><p>“Hello, everyone. I’m Doctor Eileen Beckett, and this is my son, Five. Thank you all so much for staying on such short notice. I heard the kids had wanted to have a sleepover for their birthdays and I wanted to offer the option of them having it at our house? We don’t live far out from the school, just fifteen minutes. It’s in Willshire Meadows?” Eileen gave her best, charming smile as she waved friendly towards her audience. </p><p>“Hi, I’m Emmett Smith, Allison’s father. This seems extremely short noticed. Are you sure that you’ll be able to handle seven children alone?” The tall man asked cautiously. His hands were resting gently on his daughter’s shoulders, who was looking up at him annoyedly. </p><p>“I too, am slightly concerned about leaving seven children alone with you. It seems like an awful lot to handle by yourself. Especially since this will be Lu’s first party!” The comically sized woman, who was Luther’s mother, stood very protectively next to her son. She reached up and pinched his cheeks, much to the boy’s distaste. </p><p>“Mom,” Luther sighed out before swatting her hand away. </p><p>“My husband will be there as well! And we also have a housekeeper around, so there’s three adults. It’s just one night, and any of you are also welcome to stay too.” This gained the protest of all the children, who looked to their respective adult to groan at them not to come. </p><p>An Asian woman in a pantsuit who stood next to Ben was mumbling furiously fast at him. There was a frown on her face as she gestured to Five and his mom, before looking back to Ben and muttering more words in a language neither of them knew. Ben looked like he was growing frustrated. This continued for a minute, until Ben finally exploded.</p><p>“Omma!” Ben hissed, furiously embarrassed. “That’s so rude to say. Switch to English, please.”</p><p>Klaus and his mother had a knowing look in their eyes, as their vision drifted off to whatever was next to the two quarreling figures. Sabine took this time to take over. </p><p>“Everyone, I’ve met his parents before. Very trustworthy people. Have very big hearts. I’d be happy to let my Klaus miss his birthday ritual to go play with his knight.” She was smiling encouragingly. Eileen looked down to see the woman was still barefoot. It was a rather quirky thing about her.</p><p>Five was the one to grow red at his title, while Klaus seemed to glow in his mother’s acceptance. Eileen gave a small smile at Sabine, who in return gave her a thumbs up and a youthful grin. She was a very nice woman, it seemed, Eileen’s mind provided. </p><p>“Vanya seems very adamant about going to sleep at your child’s house.” A gravelly, old voice spoke softly. </p><p>“Sleep over, Babka. Not just sleep.” Vanya corrected politely.</p><p>“That is what I said, silly child.” Her grandmother whacked her head playfully. </p><p>“Diego gets nervous away from home, what happens if he wants to go home in the middle of the night? My eyes are old, and his mother works the night shift at the hospital.” Diego’s abuela spoke firmly.</p><p>Eileen didn’t even take a breath before offering. “One of us can take him home, if it is necessary. We will also call you if those measures are needed. You all are always welcome to call us, if you are feeling worried.”</p><p>This seemed to ease the tension from the group. Eileen let out the breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding. Approaching six other strong minded adults wasn’t something she wasn’t used to, but it was always an experience. She had wanted to make sure it was possible all the children could come. It would be the first birthday Five would host, and as his mother, she wanted it to be as great as it could be.</p><p>“I don’t trust you.” Came the response of Ben’s mother, who was glaring heavily at Five and his mother. Ben looked as though he was about to go into cardiac arrest.</p><p>“Mrs. Choi,” Sabine cut in dutifully. She grabbed the smaller woman’s arm in a hardy grasp. The woman was still staring Eileen down, and it was unnerving. “Their family gives good energy, very reliable. They don’t even have impurities floating around them. I doubt they even need the sage or sweetgrass.”</p><p>Mrs. Choi looked to Sabine, who was still smiling toothily, back to Eileen, who looked a lot paler than from when she started out, and then back to Sabine. She let out a puff of air before snapping her attention to Ben. </p><p>“Oi, you wanna?” Ben nodded slowly. “You sort my files this weekend to save money for gift.” </p><p>“Omma-” Ben started.</p><p>“Tch, don’t you Omma me. I raise you right.” The small woman quickly handed over a business card for a real estate business. “Personal is on back, send me text when this party is happening. Goodbye.”</p><p>With that, Ben was grabbed by his arm and pulled away. He looked back at the rest of the group watching him and gave a polite wave. This slowed him down, which seemed to make his mother even angrier, and in turn, pull him faster to the car. She didn’t slow for a second, even if Ben seemed like he was about to stumble.</p><p>A few of the parents looked hesitant at what they were witnessing, but most of the older generation present just saw his treatment as a thing of normalcy. That was how they had been treated at his age, and that is how they treated their own children. That is where modern views, and cultural ones, tended to differ, the adults thought simultaneously. </p><p>“Well I wouldn’t be opposed…” Luther’s mother trailed off.</p><p>“I’ll have to talk to my wife but…” Started Allison’s dad.</p><p>The two elderly grandmothers glanced at one another before seeming to come to some sort of silent agreement. “We can make it work.”</p><p>Hearing their little ones cheer with excitement was very much worth everything in the world, to them. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>After that almost near disaster with the parents, Five thought he lost a bit of his life. It was one of the most draining interactions he had ever had, yet he didn’t even speak a lick. All the formalities of adulthood weren’t seeming so great, as of late. Five didn’t realize how many hoops someone had to jump through just to get someone to agree to think about something. It wasn’t even a proper promise or guarantee.</p><p>Five had bigger issues to focus on, though. The real dilemma he faced was what to get everyone for their joint birthday. Thinking about having to get six completely unique gifts for six very different people just made Five’s brain want to go into autopilot; and let it be known, he liked to have control of his mind at all times. It’s just the thought about having to put forth so much effort into gifting these six practically strangers something relevant was very stress inducing. </p><p>Especially since he wanted one of those strangers to like his gift. So what if he wanted to see an adorable smile on his birthday? Sue him, it was his day to indulge himself in as many pleasures as he wanted. Five wanted his gift to stand out because he refused to be mediocre at anything. But he didn’t want to give Klaus something superficial.</p><p>He could get him a skirt, but Five was certain Klaus had literally a hundred of them swimming in pools on his floor. He could get him art supplies, but he was pretty sure there was an 84.799 percent chance the others would get him that too. He thought about going to the library to look up weird ingredients for rituals, but he wasn’t quite sure what Klaus and his mom practiced. He was too nervous to ask, in fear of Klaus figuring out his reasoning behind the question (not just wanting to get closer to him, which he would never say out loud in a billion years). </p><p>That’s how Five’s father found his son, scribbling furiously away in his notebook. When he hovered over his shoulder to see how his equations were coming along, he was instead met with a very long list of possibilities for gifts. Most of them had been scribbled over and crossed out multiple times. Some had been circled with the intentions of referring back to them later, while others were sloppily written and hesitant, as if Five wasn’t quite sure it was a good idea or not. </p><p>It was the strangest sight to see, but Five’s father had a very warm look in his eyes as he went to the fridge to get out some cream for his coffee. Five was working just as hard on that list as he had on all of his previous projects, and it made his son seem so adorable in his antics. He was more than a little obsessive over things, but this obsession might bring some good change. </p><p>“Watchu working on there, bud?” Vincent asked his son. He poured a bit of cream into his coffee before plucking out a spoon from the drawers and dropping it into his cup. It made a light clanking noise as it brushed against the sides of the mug. </p><p>“I can’t figure out what to get that moron.” Five said angrily as he jerked his head away from his notebook he had been nearly nose to paper with.</p><p>“This ‘moron’ wouldn’t happen to be Klaus, would it?” Vincent took a sip of his coffee, letting the warm feeling spread across his body as he leant against their island. </p><p>“Of course it’s him. What other moron would I be talking about?” Five jumped down from his chair, his empty bowl in hand. He stalked aggressively towards the pantry, aiming to get another helping of cereal. </p><p>His dad hummed in contemplation. “Well, you call a lot of people morons: the delivery man, your physics tutor, Mr. and Mrs. Gregson’s daughter who lives down the street-”</p><p>“First of all,” Five began shortly. “That physics teacher is a bald-headed moron. Yes, I said moron. Secondly Klaus is the only moron can I tolerate, within reason.”</p><p>“And why is that?” His father pushed, feeling a little bit braver that morning in wanting to help Five discover some more emotions. It never hurt to try, and his son seemed willing enough to answer his probing questions. </p><p>Five had a deep scowl on his face that almost resembled a grimace. His eyebrows were knitted together in contemplation. “I suppose it’s because he can’t really take care of himself. He’d probably die without my help.”</p><p>“But what about his mother? Sabine is an adult and has provided for him up until now.” Vincent took a seat at their kitchen table. He watched as five poured in a large portion of those weird health wheat squares his wife liked. </p><p>“Well she obviously can’t protect him at school. And that shadow, Ben, seems one for tough love. He’d probably let someone hurt Klaus before he helped him.” Five dumped the milk into the bowl, watching it drown his wheats. </p><p>“Wouldn’t it be good to let Klaus learn how to stand on his own two feet? I’m not saying you should let him get hurt, I’m just suggesting maybe trying to step back and let him take care of his own problems, if there are actually any problems?” His father suggested. Five looked at him distraughtly, like he just burnt one of his precious journals of time travel. </p><p>“If I was with him always, he would never have any problems.” Five answered like it was the only logical thing ever said. He was beginning to think he brought some sort of germ home that was making his dad’s brilliant mind turn to mush. </p><p>Vincent burst out laughing at his son’s reaction. He had to start getting this stuff on video tape. It would be so funny to watch those in the future, when Five finally understood what a childhood crush was. </p><p>“I can’t argue with such sound logic.”</p><p>Five sniffed indignantly. “Of course you can’t.”</p><p>His father let his chuckles trail off. Vincent looked to the light streaming through the kitchen windows and watched as it hit the table, illuminating Five’s notes. “Mind if I take a look?”</p><p>He watched as his son hurriedly shoveled cereal into his mouth. He wished he would slow down a bit, but he supposed he could let it go that once. Five just made a grunting noise. “Go ahead.”</p><p>Vincent read the ideas that were still legible. He had the typical ones, like clothing items, action figures, and even paint supplies. There were more abstract concepts like offering to take him ice skating or bowling. Was he planning dates? Vincent thought to himself, the idea making him grin at his son’s childish tactlessness. He didn’t even know what a date was but he was already making plans, it seemed.   </p><p>“Have you thought about making him something?” Vincent’s eyes scanned over the last parts of the list. “I’m sure he’d appreciate the homemade aspect of things, seeing how he is known to be really creative. I’m sure he’d treasure whatever you give him, though.”</p><p>Five dropped his spoon into his now empty bowl. The ringing of the metal clashing against the ceramic was deafening in their silent kitchen, but he wasn’t paying that much attention. Five’s eyes snapped up to meet his dad’s. They were wide in surprise, and had a growing look of inspiration behind them. Vincent had never seen his son so animated about something that didn’t have to do with paradoxical theories. </p><p>“That’s,” he began slowly, “actually a really good idea.” </p><p>His dad snorted. “I do have them, occasionally. Better mark it on the calendar. It probably won’t happen again for a while.”</p><p>Five rolled his eyes, but he quickly snatched back his notebook from his father’s hands. He had to start a whole new list of things he could make Klaus.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>ALSO thank you all so much for your nice comments! They mean so much!!! I don’t know if I’m supposed to reply to everyone of them? I would definitely though cause I’m absolutely reading them all. Again, thanks a ton!!! They really make my day :’)</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Birthdays Part 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So this is super duper long, like almost 8,000 words long. It has some light angst, but it ends really fluffily so I say it cancels it out. It is not proofread, but I will eventually go back and read. Thanks for everyone's continuing interest in my really indulgent fic LMAO.</p><p>Honestly, here's hoping everything flooooooowwwsss. Would you guys be interested in if I started the other parts of this series now? I'm not sure if I should wait. I don't want to get too distracted, but I got lots of ideas. Well, Anyways, hope you enjoy!</p><p>P.s. I feel like my author notes are crack-ish but I swear this is just my thought process LOL</p><p>P.P.S I love all your comments, and have been reading them all continuously. They really make my day. :')</p><p>P.P.P.S. You can usually expect updates early in the morning</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Five didn’t put too much thought into what to get the other fools at his table. His mother was inclined to believe the gifts he picked out were actually thoughtful, much to his denial. He got Vanya a notebook with blank sheet music in it. For Allison, he went the more typical girl route and got her a headband with butterflies on it. He got Diego a soccer ball, Luther a plethora of army men (as he showed interest in following his father into the military), and Ben a book of poetry by William Blake. His mom was pleased with his choices, and Five was just pleased he didn’t have to think about them for more than necessary. </p><p>What was irksome was trying to figure out what to make Klaus. He tried his hand at painting but it was clear he didn’t have the talent for it. All he was left with was a canvas of gray and brown, and splashes of red. His mom tried to console him by saying it evoked a lot of strong emotions, but Five knew it seemed like the artist was emotionally constipated, which wasn’t far from the truth.</p><p>He tried more of a craftsy approach by trying to make a simple picture frame with some pretty stones on it. Knowing Klaus, he would want it to be very colorful and glittery, so Five tried to sprinkle some gold, glittery dust on the frame, but ended up dumping the whole thing on top of it. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but Five was a bit clumsy with what he had gotten the glue on. In the end, the frame just looked like a square of glitter with ulcers, so he chucked it into the garbage and grabbed the housekeeper to help him clean up.</p><p>Five tried sculpting stuff out of some clay he got from a local art store. He didn’t really have an idea of where he wanted to go with it, so he just started playing around with it. Eventually, he formed something that resembled an animal, and he thought that may be okay enough. When he got his mom to help put it in the oven, it unfortunately cracked to the point where the head fell straight off. The tail followed in a similar fashion. Five, too, threw the failure in the garbage. </p><p>He tried to make Klaus another doll from scratch. He collected some nice fabrics, and grabbed the sewing kit from under the bathroom sink, and set to work. He had drawn and cut out a paper pattern, and tried to align it as best as he could on the fabric. He unfortunately didn’t have access to the right type of scissors that could cut through the material, so he was left with sloppy and jagged pieces. He cut into one of his pillows to get stuffing for his creation, though he never told his mother. </p><p>In the end, the thing was a monstrosity, and it looked as though it had gotten run over twice, and then once more for good measure. He was trying to make a cat, but its ears were lopsided and stuffing was pulling out from the sides. The buttons he cut off of his old dress shirts were sewed poorly and skewed to the thing’s face. In the end, Five hid the creature under his bed in shame, waiting for a day to burn it. </p><p>Five really hated the arts. Whoever said it was easy was sorely mistaken and clearly hadn’t tried their hand at anything involving creativity. He was nearly about to give up, until he found a bag of charms tucked away in the back of a drawer. He rummaged around through a few more places in his house until he found a spool of nice satin cord and some clasps. </p><p>It really didn’t take Five a long time to make Klaus a bracelet. He did his best to neatly make a braided pattern out of the cord, putting in some celestial charms when it seemed right. He chose them because it seemed like something Klaus would like, and it really wasn’t because he was otherworldly. It wasn’t. </p><p>Once Five was pleased with the final outcome, he went to find his dad to help secure the clasps in place. He raced down the hallway, the bracelet and two clasps in hand. Before he knew it, he had reached the door to his father’s study, and made a very energetic entrance. </p><p>“Dad,” Five breathed heavily. He bounded through the doorway, and slammed the bracelet down his desk. He was gentler than he would have normally been with it, though.</p><p>“Hey, Five. What can I do for you?” His dad looked at his breathless son, panting from some over exertion. </p><p>“I need you to help put these clasps on that bracelet.” Five lifted his hand away to reveal the neatly structured bracelet with dangling charms and letters as accents. “Please.”</p><p>Five revised his statement politely. His dad smiled at him. “Sure thing, bud.”</p><p>Vincent reached down to pick up the delicate looking bracelet his son made. He looked in curiosity at the little stars shimmering against the light pouring from the window. There was a moon and sun at the beginning and ending of the name of the bracelet. Vincent’s mouth quirked a little higher as he read it. </p><p>“Did you make yourself a bracelet?” He asked as Five handed him the little clasps he had been clenching. He fiddled around to loop them into the tiny holes.</p><p>“No.” Five stated as he eyed him like a hawk, not wanting his father to mess up his hard work. </p><p>Vincent paused at this. “But it has your name on it.”</p><p>“Obviously,” Five said blandly. He motioned for his father to move faster. Vincent didn’t. Instead, he chose to work at a meticulous pace. </p><p>“Well who is it for then?” Vincent pushed his glasses up higher on the bridge of his nose, finally threading the cord through its target. He then set to work on knotting it a couple of times for safety precautions. </p><p>“Klaus.” Vincent stopped his work again to look at his son. He looked straight back, clearly frustrated at how slowly he was moving. Five had always been a fast one. Neither of his parents ever had a chance to catch up with him once he began walking. </p><p>“But why didn’t you put his name on it?” Vincent asked curiously as he set back to the duty his son bestowed upon him, ever so graciously. </p><p>“That would be stupid. He knows his own name. Plus, putting his name on it would be like getting him a dog collar, or something. Instead, I put my name so he would remember who gave him such a great gift.” There were times Vincent worried about his son’s confidence turning to arrogance, but his son was already a little bit arrogant, but he was so cute it cancelled out the harshness of his words. </p><p>“When you say it like that, there’s really no room for argument.” Vincent mused as he clasped the two clips together and handed it back to Five.</p><p>“Obviously,” Five repeated before bolting out the door. He shouted a loud ‘thanks’ back towards his father before he left rampaging back down the hall to his own room. </p><p>Vincent’s smile remained on his face for the rest of the afternoon. His son’s antics were so amusing at times, and very out of character. It did seem to suit him, though, at the same time. He didn’t bother commenting to his son that by putting his own name instead of Klaus’ it almost seems like a sign of ownership. Maybe his pet theory wasn’t too far off, but it wasn’t exactly that type of relationship. They could only wait to see how their relationship would grow.</p><p>

Hopefully it will flourish, Vincent thought to himself as he stared out his office’s window. That boy may help Five in ways we can’t. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Five had never shown interest in his birthday. It was just another day of the year, one that could be spent doing more fulfilling things such as research on time travel. To spend it by wasting the day to hold a celebration for him surviving another year due to the competency of himself and his parents was ludicrous, at best. </p><p>Yet, here he was. Setting up their spacious living room with varieties of food he had asked about a few days before, and sugary drinks that he hoped would get them to crash early in the night. Five would be drinking as much coffee as he wanted, the only thing he ever asked for on his birthday. Luckily, his parents were gracious enough to give him that. He suspected they heavily watered it down, but he couldn’t be too mad. They usually gave him a stupid juice box.</p><p>He got roped into this charade of being host to a bunch of elementary brats because of those stupid watery eyes. Five cursed his apparent foil. In the end, it was his decision to race out the door to meet his mom, who was picking him up that day, ask her if it would be alright to host a birthday sleepover, and if she could run to talk to his the parents of his ‘friends’ that very moment. Bless his mom, who recognized the desperation in her son’s voice, and easily gave into his surprising whims. </p><p>It was absolutely ridiculous for Five to spend his birthday throwing a party because it was also six other kids’ birthdays, too. It was, unfortunately, too late to back out now. Everyone was already probably on their way, and Five did already have everything set up. It was when the doorbell rang with the arrival of the first child that he knew that was the final nail in his coffin. There was no escaping this. </p><p>Five hoped it would be Klaus, but he didn’t really admit this to himself. There wasn’t any true reason as to why he should want it to be Klaus, so it was odd that it was the first thought that crossed his mind. As he ran to open the door, he was greeted with the sight of Luther, the mountain, and his mother who was ridiculously short. </p><p>“Nice to see you again, Five! What a unique name you got there, are your parents around? I’d like to talk to them before leaving Lu.” She was short, pudgy, and had a very round face making her seem younger than she probably was. A pink sweater was wrapped around her shoulders. She was very suburban looking, Five sneered internally. </p><p>“Yeah, they’re here. They’re just ordering the pizza, but I can go get them.” Five opened the door a little wider so the two of them could step in. “Please come in and make yourself comfortable.”</p><p>Five scampered away from the scene, not wanting to spend more time than necessary with the weird mother-son duo they had going on. It was a pretty comical sight, but Five didn’t find it funny enough to loiter in his own hallway. Instead, he chose to dive into the kitchen, where his parents were arguing about the pizza order.</p><p>At their island, Five’s mom stood with a phone pressed to her shoulder as she was giving his dad the stink eye. He probably was taking too long with creating the order list, or was messing with it when his mother already, most likely, perfected it. They all heard another ring of the doorbell, and his mother made a shooing motion at the both of them to go greet them. </p><p>Five jerked his head to the way he came from, and his dad nodded in agreement. They both moved quickly down their hall to get to the entrance where they were to greet their guests. When they got there, Luther was talking animatedly with Allison, while their parents were whispering secretively to each other. </p><p>“Hey everyone, sorry for the hold up. There’s just a bit of a delay in the pizza ordering. I guess one of the delivery people called in sick, so they’re short on staff.” Five’s father smiled as he reached out his hand. </p><p>“That’s okay, pal. We aren’t in a hurry or anything. Ally has been talking about this day for about forever now.” Allison’s dad joked as he grabbed Vincent’s hand. “My name’s Emmett Smith, nice to meet you. I met your wife before, at the school”</p><p>“Very nice to meet you too, I’m Vincent Adler. Eileen is just fixing the pizza fiasco but she’ll be around all evening.” They shook hands and then Vincent moved on to greet Luther’s mother. </p><p>“I’m Susan Kinsley, it’s a pleasure.” Vincent nodded and then looked down to the kids. He gave them a warm smile.</p><p>“Why don’t you guys get the tour from Five while I talk to your parents about boring adult stuff?” They nodded enthusiastically, before directing their attention to their now designated tour guide. </p><p>With an annoyed huff, Five motioned for the two to follow him. He spun around quickly on his feet and headed off, not caring for if they were really following him or not. He did hear the sounds of shuffling behind him, so he assumed that they did have the ability to keep up with him. </p><p>As Five barreled down the halls of his home, he pointed to his large living space on the right. “The living room is there, and that’s where we will be sleeping. There’s a television and games accessible. The bathroom is the first door on the left, and the kitchen is at the very end.” </p><p>Five turned around to see Allison and Luther staring at his home in awe. Five wasn’t foolish; he knew that his home was nicer than most people. He didn’t advertise it though because his parents told him it was wrong to use your wealth to obtain things, and luxury always seemed sort of irrelevant to him. Unless it came to microscopes or Bunsen burners, or the laser he kind of wanted to try out after watching a video on it. </p><p>“Wow, Five! Your house is huge.” Allison threw her hands in the air as a comparison. </p><p>Five snorted. “Yeah, uh, thanks. You guys can set your stuff up in the living room.” He eyed the large bag of gifts they had piled in tote bags. “Set up a gift table, or something. There are snacks in there too, so don’t spill anything.”</p><p>Five darted back down the entryway, hoping Klaus was there. He just really wanted to give him the bracelet. He would probably give Five that huge, wide smile he showed so easily to everyone, but this time it would be towards him. With his amazing gift, he wouldn’t have to worry about Klaus not paying attention to him. He would definitely be his favorite. </p><p>He had gotten his mom to find one of those old boxes that were made of fake leather that jewelry came in. It had a nice velvety finish inside that gave it a luxurious look. He placed the bracelet securely in it before wrapping it very carefully. He had to start over a few times because he would tear the paper when he rushed. He even made doilies to go on top of it, for decoration. </p><p>He had his mom wrap the other gifts. After wrapping Klaus’ gift over fifteen times, he had been done for the day. His mom happily took over. She found it so funny to see her son fussing over the tiny little wrinkles in the wrapping paper. He wanted it to be perfect. </p><p>Five found himself back in his home’s entryway. Luther and Allison’s mom and dad were still discussing semantics with his dad, but Diego, Vanya, and Ben’s had arrived with their parents and grandparents by the, too. </p><p>All three of them were carrying some sort of overnight bag, stuffed with presents and necessities. There were pillows tucked under their arms too. The three were glancing around Five’s house as if it had some magical properties he had never noticed. It sort of made him uncomfortable, but he chose to push down the feeling of discomfort.</p><p>“Hi, Luther and Allison are already here, clearly.” Five glanced at the two’s parents. “Feel free to follow me with your stuff.”</p><p>Again, Five repeated the tour in the most abbreviated way he could without any questions being needed. The three didn’t say much since all were pretty quiet in general. Five liked that he was met with silence by the time they were at the living room. It gave him time to think, mainly about why Klaus wasn’t there yet.</p><p>Five glanced at the clock that rested above the mantel over his fireplace. It was already half past seven, and Klaus should have been there by now. He especially should have been there because Ben was already there. He voiced this to the Asian boy who had claimed a small corner of his couch to sleep on later.</p><p>“Why didn’t you come with Klaus?” Five asked casually as he watched Ben pull out a small blanket and lay it gently on the couch. He started trying to control his breathing more, his disappointment was eating at him. “Don’t you live close to each other?”</p><p>“Yeah, he lives down the street. I think his mom wanted to do a small ceremony before he left. They usually start at midnight, but since he is staying over here she had to improvise. That stuffs really important to them. I think she was going to let him go without doing it, but she had a change of heart. She called my mom and said to go without him.” Ben shrugged as he began to pull out his gifts for everyone and place them on the coffee table. </p><p>Five digested all the news. He could understand traditions, but it still made him a little upset Klaus was going to be late. It wasn’t like this party was for him, or anything. It was for all of them, he told himself unconvincingly. Five was just impatient to give him his gift. There really wasn’t anything else to it, honestly. </p><p>“We should play a game!” Allison cheered happily as she sat down in front of the gift table. The others, including Five, circled in after her. </p><p>“We have a lot of board games on the book shelf. We don’t play them often but people keep giving them to us as gifts.” Five stated as he pointed out the wooden bookshelf tucked in the corner of the room. As stated, there were games piled high and on top of each other. </p><p>“H-holy cow. I’ve never s-seen that m-m-many games before!” Diego stared awestruck at the variety they had to choose from.</p><p>Allison and Vanya both ran enthusiastically to see the huge selection. Luther and Diego stayed behind, with Ben and Five, choosing to let the girls find the first game to play. They did have the entire night, there was no rush. </p><p>“Oh my goodness, let’s play Jenga!” Vanya said happily. It was probably the loudest that anyone had ever heard her. </p><p>“Yes, definitely,” Allison agreed wholeheartedly. She then eyed a game pushed to the far corner of the case. “We need to play twister too.”</p><p>“That could actually be funny to see.” Ben commented next to Five. They watched the girls grab a few more games before bounding back over to the rest. </p><p>“Get ready to l-lose.” Diego said cockily as he eyed the pile. “I’m a m-monster at board games. We play them every Friday night at m-my house. I’m the best.”</p><p>Luther laughed at this. “We also do game night. I’m going to kick your butt.”</p><p>There was a spark lit between the two as they eyed each other competitively. Five just sighed at the two’s childishness. To his surprise, Ben also chimed in on the matter, and so did Vanya.</p><p>“You guys are ridiculous, I’m clearly going to win.” Ben spoke confidently as he helped to open the Jenga box and make sure the tower was set properly.</p><p>Vanya was at his side, helping with the process. “You boys are so competitive. Of course you’ll never win against a girl, though.” Diego and Luther snorted, which made Vanya give them a piercing look.</p><p>“It’s on.” Diego and Luther said simultaneously. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>After about five games of Jenga, the six of them quickly lost interest in the blocks, and decided to move onto a different game. Allison had knocked it down twice, while Ben and Five both knocked it down once. The last round was the most intense, though.</p><p>“Would you stop blowing on them? That’s cheating!” Diego grumbled angrily at Luther, who had a teasing look plastered on his face. </p><p>“Who? Me? I didn’t do anything, promise.” He chuckled innocently. Diego went to flick him, but Luther scooted out of the way.</p><p>They were playing with the rules that if you had touched it, you had to stick with it. There could be no assist from the other hands either. All of them were apparently sticklers for the rules, as no one had really done anything that could be seen as cheating. That is, until the last round. </p><p>Diego had picked a stubborn piece on edge that didn’t want to come out. Luther, seemingly out of character, decided to mess with Diego in an effort to psych him out. They were in a competition afterall. Surprisingly, Diego wasn’t one to shy away from dirtier tricks. </p><p>Once he had gotten his block out and placed it on top, he went to get up as Luther touched his piece. He stomped his feet loudly against the ground, shaking the Jenga structure a bit in his wake. Luther looked at him spitefully, and Diego just shrugged. </p><p>“I’m not doing anything.” He said cheekily as he walked to grab the bowl of chips they had set up. </p><p>“Can you grab the goldfish too?” Ben called out. Diego gave him a thumbs up as he made his way to grab the two items. All of a sudden, they heard a crash followed by a loud groan of annoyance.</p><p>“I almost had it!” Shouted Luther. Diego grinned happily as he returned to his spot next to the pouting boy. </p><p>“Better luck next time, chief.” Five told him sarcastically. Allison and Vanya chuckled as they helped to pick up the blocks and rebuild the tower. </p><p>“Let’s do something else.” Vanya suggested as she covered the tower back up with the box. She wiggled the cardboard square under it to keep all the blocks from falling out, then turned it right side up, closing it gently. </p><p>“Twister?” Allison asked hopefully.</p><p>“I’m sitting out, but I can be the referee?” He suggests.</p><p>“That’ll be a no from me too.” Five said, a chill going through him as he thought about having to be practically wrapped around another person. </p><p>“Aw, where’s the fun in that?” Five’s head shot up, and he quickly jolted up from the ground, spinning around in the process.</p><p>“Klaus!” Everyone greeted him enthusiastically. </p><p>“Hey everybody, fancy meeting you here. I reckon this must be a party.” He commented cheerily, trailing deeper into the living room. </p><p>Klaus wore his hair with small braids in it and ribbons were skillfully woven in between each strand. He was wearing a dressier skirt than normal, with it having small beads of silver dangling from the ends. On the top, he had a handknitted, white sweater that hung loosely on his shoulders, with glimmer specks embedded in the yarn. He was surprisingly wearing a lot of jewelry, and what looked to be herbs hanging from his neck and waist. In Klaus’ hands were a big box of  presents Five assumed to be for all of them. He had a large grin on his face as he stepped forward, nearly tripping on the carpet. </p><p>Five rushed forward to steady Klaus by the shoulders before he took a swan dive into the ground. He looked to his dad who had been standing at the entrance of the room. He gave him an accusatory look. “Why didn’t you carry it for him?”</p><p>Klaus laughed at the question. “I can carry my own stuff, Fivey.”</p><p>“What if you got hurt? You nearly toppled over.” Five lashed out frustrated. He didn’t want Klaus to get hurt in his own home. What would that say about Five? </p><p>“Well that’s why I have you, Fivey.” Klaus winked as he nimbly made his way to the group, Five trailed dumbly behind. His face felt like it was on fire, a feeling he had since gotten used to after being with Klaus so often at school.</p><p>“Hey Klaus, didn’t change out of your ritual stuff?” Ben asked as he helped Klaus unload his big box. </p><p>“Well I didn’t want to be later than we were. I did get rid of the ceremonial robes. Those were a little flashy.” Klaus said as he grabbed his own sleepaway bag from the box. “I do have my pajamas though, and these clothes are comfy enough anyway.”</p><p>“You l-l-look really nice.” Diego’s stutter returned quickly. Five looked at the dark haired boy unamused. </p><p>“Thanks Di!” Klaus clapped his hands excitedly. Five sunk his nails into his palms as he clenched his fists together. </p><p>“Klaus, what took so long?” Allison asked as she grabbed his arm so he would sit between her and Vanya. Five breathed in heavily from his nose. </p><p>“Well I was going to come with Ben, but my mom decided to do our ceremonial celebration early, and she even shortened it for my sake. She hates taking short cuts, but anyway. It still took longer than expected, and I still had to get the gifts together. But, here I am!” He finished merrily. “Did you guys eat yet? I’m starving!”</p><p>“Actually,” it was Five’s dad’s voice that called out to the happy group. “I also wanted to tell you guys that the pizza was here. It’s in the kitchen if you’re all-”</p><p>“Pizza!” They all, besides Five, sprung up to go running to the kitchen. Five and his father watched them all rush past them and down the hall. As they got closer, the smell of deliciously fresh pizza got stronger. </p><p>Vincent looked to his son. “Are you going to follow them?”</p><p>Five didn’t say anything, just ducked his head to hide his still flushed cheeks from his dad. He scurried past him to join the others who had abandoned him for food. Never test the appetite of six growing children, Five supposed.  </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>When he got to the kitchen, everyone had already started to grab paper plates and swarmed their island, where the pizza was. His mom was watching them all with a small smile of contentment on her face. Their house hadn’t been that lively ever. She was glad that her son had found a group of friends for himself. </p><p>Five reached up to grab a plate for himself. He walked up to Klaus, who was grabbing a plain slice of cheese pizza. His mom had also gotten wings, but the boy didn’t grab any. He just reached for a container of blue cheese, and looked at Five happily. </p><p>“I haven’t had pizza in forever! You guys even got blue cheese. It’s the best on pizza.” Klaus insisted as he grabbed a slice of pineapple pizza. Five looked at him curiously. He had only known his Dad to like that type of pizza. Everyone else he met, including himself, were always a bit repulsed at the idea of fruit on a slice of perfectly fine pizza. </p><p>“You like pineapple pizza?” He questioned the boy incredulously. </p><p>“I’ve never had it before. I like to try new things to see if I like them. You should try pizza with olive and anchovies! It’s gross.” Five made a face as he grabbed a slice of pepperoni.</p><p>“Why would I try something if it’s gross?”</p><p>“To say you’ve done it.” Klaus said with this knowing look, but his eyes skidded past behind him again. Five looked behind him.</p><p>“Is there something there?” He asked genuinely. </p><p>“It’s nothing,” Klaus diverted his gaze back to meet Five’s eyes. He grabbed the boy’s free hand in his own. Five felt goosebumps start to form, but he hesitated on pulling his hand away. It wasn’t the kind of burning he got when some people touched him, it was sort of refreshing. He let Klaus do as he pleased. It was his birthday, he might as well indulge him a little bit. He’d probably be less whiny. </p><p>Klaus pulled him to the table, where everyone else had begun to dig into their food. They were all chattering loudly amongst each other, smiling and laughing in a very carefree way. Unfortunately for everyone else, there weren’t two open seats next to each other. That meant Five would have to shove one of them out of their seat so he could sit next to Klaus, the one he could tolerate the most. </p><p>Klaus took the seat between Diego and Ben, that only left one more seat between Allison and Luther. Five’s nose wrinkled in disgust. There was no way he was going to sit next to the chatty cathy and the tree. Five knew Ben wouldn’t move, but Diego didn’t appear to be as strong willed. If Five just butted him out of the way, everything would be fine.</p><p>“Hey, you.” Five stood next to Diego, trying to appear intimidating by puffing out his chest in a brave show of dominance. “Move.”</p><p>“Five!” Eileen cried out as Five shoved Diego over in the seat so he could make a move to sit down. “What are you doing?” She hissed at her son angrily. It may have been his birthday, but he was a host first. Hosts did not go around pushing their guests out of their seats. </p><p>“I’m moving him, clearly.” This frustrated Eileen. She grabbed Five by the elbow, and pulled him up and out of the kitchen. The others looked at the two awkwardly, but didn’t want to intrude by eavesdropping, so they began to start eating again. They were a lot quieter though than when they had first sat at the table.</p><p>“Diego, feel free to sit back down.” Eileen called out. Diego nodded awkwardly when she glanced back. He slowly slipped back down in the chair, not quite wanting to be there anymore as he felt Five’s ferocious glare on him. </p><p>“Mom,” Five spit out furiously. He was outraged by his mother’s betrayal. She just threw Five a look that said, ‘Try and test my patience again.’ </p><p>Five threw a mild hissy fit the whole time it took for his mother to drag him from his claimed chair to the hall. He dug his heels in the ground and his nails into his mother’s wrist. Eileen bit her lip to stop a gasp of pain at the feeling of her son clawing at her skin. His reaction was very unwarranted, she thought. </p><p>She pulled him a good distance away from the kitchen, opting to step into her own office, just a few doors away. She pushed him inside, gently as she didn’t want to hurt him as he was hurting her. She slowly shut the windowed doors behind her, and pulled the curtains in front of them so they had privacy. </p><p>Five was standing at the center of the room, panting heavily. He had a maddened look etched onto his face, lines of rage marred his skin as his lips were set in a permanent frown. He was so angry that his body was trembling, trying to control the outburst of rage that they both knew would inevitably come. </p><p>Eileen wandered over to her desk, brushing past her fuming son. When his tantrums grew to be that great, it was best not to directly address them until he was done screaming his head off. The last time Five blew up was when he wasn’t allowed to go to a scientific conference being held because they thought he was too young. </p><p>His parents had tried to convince the panel and the other hosts of the event to let him attend at least one day of it, but they remained unconvinced. They had refused to even meet with their son, which still shocked them to this day. Five destroyed about six of his journals, and had broken a very expensive microscope using an equally as expensive electrothermal bunsen burner. </p><p>Eileen and Vincent had both known of their son’s temper. They had taught him skills with his breathing to calm him down, given him stress balls to crush in his fists to ease his tension, and even had put a punching bag in their basement for him to use when he wanted to vent. Still, there were times in which his anger still got the better of him. Five was very young, so it was obvious he struggled to control it, no matter how much he tried. </p><p>Eventually, Five broke the silence that the room had taken up. His voice came out higher than he intended because he was spluttering with a newfound fury he directed towards his mother. </p><p>“Why would you do that to me? In front of everyone?” In front of Klaus, Five thought anguished. “You had no right to embarrass me like that! This is our home, and I am hosting this party. That means I can kick out whoever I want. It isn’t fair you treated me that way. All I did was move Diego out of the way. You’re overreacting.” </p><p>Eileen rubbed her hand over her face in annoyance. She had to approach things calmly. “Five, I want you to understand that your actions towards Diego were inappropriate. I need you to understand that things won’t always work out the way you want, and you can’t lash out at whoever you think is causing you discomfort.”</p><p>“He wasn’t causing me discomfort, I just wanted his seat.” Five stomped his foot petulantly. It made his mother want to laugh.</p><p>“Why did you want that seat so badly?” Eileen pressed on.</p><p>Five creased his eyebrows. “Because I wanted to sit next to Klaus.”</p><p>Five’s mother’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline in amazement at how simple minded her son could be. It wasn’t a bad thing, but it could lead to putting them all into difficult positions at times. Sometimes the reasoning he created in his head was so black and white, it was hard to get through to him. He was just so self assured, it was difficult to convince him that he could make errors too. </p><p>“Five, do you know how unreasonable that is? What if Klaus wanted to sit next to Diego? What if there is a time Klaus doesn’t want to sit next to you? What will you do then?” She’s speaking sternly as she watches Five’s eyes seem to flicker with hesitation. </p><p>“Why wouldn’t he want to sit next to me?” Five’s face hardened in a mask. </p><p>“Because of how you are acting right now.” Eileen insisted. “You are acting spoiled, and entitled, and violently, and very rude. Why would Klaus want to surround himself with such a negative person?” Five hissed at her, much like a cat, in anger and contempt. </p><p>“Are you saying that he won’t want to be my friend because I’m a bad person?” His anger was still present, but it diminished with the fear he felt in his heart.</p><p>Eileen sighed tiredly. “No, sweetie. You aren’t a bad person, but right now you are being a bad host. You want all your guests to be comfortable here, not just one; this isn’t all about you right now, it’s about everyone. Your actions reflect how people perceive you. What would happen if Klaus thinks you’ll turn this aggressive behavior onto him?”</p><p>“I would never-” Five seethed.</p><p>“But we can’t be certain, sweetie, with the types of actions you’ve taken as of late. I’m your mother, and you were so angry that you hurt me.” She showed Five her lightly bleeding wrist where the indents of his nails had laid. “I know you would never intentionally hurt someone you care about, but sometimes all that anger gets to you. We just need to find strategies in helping you cope better.”</p><p>Five seemed to take all her words in carefully. He hadn’t realized how badly he hurt his mother, and a pit of regret was planted in his stomach and growing steadily the longer he stared at her wrist. He didn’t mind violence, he tended to lean towards it, but he was never violent towards people he was close to. That night proved to him maybe he did have problems with his anger, but he still wasn’t ready to admit this. Having such a big fault is a setback, Five thought. He didn’t want to admit it was scary losing control, because Five was brave and he didn’t have fears.</p><p>“I’m sorry for the way I behaved.” Five nodded tersely, his eyes never straying from the marks he made. Eileen rolled down her sleeve, and walked over to her son.</p><p>“We will talk about this further, but after your friends go home tomorrow. I want you to enjoy tonight. Do you think you can go back in there and apologise civilly to them all?” Eileen asked as she patted Five on the head.</p><p>“Yes.” Five grumbled out as he walked to the door, slid back open the curtains and walked slowly down the hall to join his guests for the remainder of dinner. His appetite had been lost though. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Dinner was an awkward affair after Five had slipped his way back into the kitchen, sitting between Allison and Luther. His mumbled apology barely registered in their ears, but they all smiled at him and told him it was no big deal. Five risked a glance at Klaus, and the boy was staring at him concernedly. Five looked away and picked at the pepperoni on his cold slice of pizza. </p><p>After dinner, they played more board games, including a few rounds of twister. Even with Klaus’ badgering at wanting to be Five’s partner, Five opted to sit out each time. Every time Five would gently reject him, Klaus got this distant look in his eye and his face fell ever so slightly. Five hated seeing it.</p><p>But he had taken his mother’s words to heart. Five didn’t want Klaus to hate him. He didn’t want the other boy to pull away because Five couldn’t control his anger. Or his violent tendencies. He didn’t want to keep making others uncomfortable, but he didn’t know why he felt that way exactly. It was all so confusing. He never used to worry about what other people thought of him because it didn’t matter. Why did it matter now?</p><p>Five would sometimes find himself distracted by Klaus’ laughter as he would accidentally top over Ben, Diego, or one of the girls as they played. Never Luther, because he was an immovable boulder. Klaus was practically a feather when he would fall on him. Other than that, Five reserved himself to thinking and watching silently from the sidelines. It was safer that way.</p><p>Five pondered that question for the rest of the night. Even when his parents came into the living room with a huge cake, he sat still in contemplation. As the others went to blow out the candles together, Five just stared at the flickering flames before they were blown out, leaving the room in darkness. Even the shrikes of the others didn’t stir anything in him, he was just too deep in thought to recognize anything else going on around him. </p><p>The longer he thought about the question, the more detached he became. He wanted to find a journal to jot down all the possibilities for his conundrum, but good hosts didn’t abandon their guests. Instead, Five sat on the couch, and watched as everyone ate cake and began to open their presents.</p><p>They were all wrapped up in tearing the paper away from their boxes, no one had noticed Five wasn’t joining them in on the fun. That was, until Five was jolted by the sensation of being hugged. </p><p>Five hated being touched, really. Even his parents weren’t the exception to Five’s aversion. His reactions would vary depending on the length of contact, and his mood. When people would brush against him quickly, Five would feel like his skin had been pricked by needles. If they touched him for longer than three seconds, his body would feel like it was burning from the inside. If he was in a particularly foul mood and someone touched him, Five would scratch at his skin insistently. </p><p>It was a bit different with Klaus, though. Five always knew when it was Klaus, because of a gut feeling. That feeling usually entailed Five not feeling the urge to shove the idiot off of him, at least not right away. Also, while most kids smelled like whatever child shampoo their parents picked up at the drugstore, Klaus smelled distinctively of dried herbs and lavender. It was probably because of his mom’s work. There was something soothing about Klaus comforting him, though Five would never in a million years admit he ever needed comforting. It was a sign of weakness. </p><p>Instead, he spoke quietly so he wouldn’t disrupt the joyous buzzing. “What are you doing.” His voice shook nervously. </p><p>“I’m hugging you.” Klaus squeezed his arms around his middle tighter. He was in an awkward position of half lying on top of Five, but it wasn’t anywhere near uncomfortable. They fit together snuggly, and they both knew it. That’s why Five left him alone. </p><p>“I can see that, but why are you hugging me?” Klaus looked up at him with those eyes that saw right through him and into something else. Something he couldn’t understand but wanted to try to for him. </p><p>“Because you’re hurting. I know you’re my Knight, and that you are the best protector ever, and you always make me smile, but I should protect you too! Equal exchange.” Klaus smiled happily. </p><p>Five snorted, his mind slowly started transitioning back to reality. Why had he been so worried about this? Klaus was entertaining, that’s why everything mattered. Five hadn’t had so much fun around others ever in his life. He would just have to work harder at controlling his emotions. It should be easy. He was resilient and he had planned on doing that in the first place. Being impulsive was never something he wanted to be known for. His mom was probably being over dramatic to get the realization to sink in. Well, it kind of worked, Five supposed. </p><p>“You can’t even protect yourself, and there’s nothing to protect me from.” Five said lightly. </p><p>Klaus huffed in a silly sort of way. It made Five’s mouth quirk up. “I so could protect myself! But why should I when you can do it for me?” Klaus batted his eyelashes in a way that was supposed to be funny, but it made Five feel bashful. </p><p>“You’re ridiculously lazy! I’m surprised you don’t demand to be carried anywhere.” Five commented as he hesitantly put his hand on Klaus’ head. “But, thanks. For cheering me up.”</p><p>Klaus blinked at him, his eyes wide in shock. “I really cheered you up?” He asked sweetly, practically squealing in delight.</p><p>Five rolled his eyes. “I suppose you did.” </p><p>“Great, now I don’t have to give you your gift.” Klaus said with a light tune in his voice. </p><p>“What gift?” Five asked curiously, looking down at the boy who had now released his grip on his waist, and was just lying over his lap like a needy animal.</p><p>“Well,” Klaus stretched out and pulled something from the pockets of his skirt. It was a small red box. “This is for you, if you want it.”</p><p>Five snatched it up greedily before Klaus could take it away. He quickly untied the ribbon that was wrapped messily on top of it. Inside of it was a stripped gold stone caged in some finely woven netting. It had a cord wrapped around it, indicating it was a type of pendant to be worn. Five took it out of the box hesitantly. </p><p>“What does it mean?” Klaus seemed to beam at the question. He quickly started spurring off interesting information about the item’s meaning.</p><p>“Well they told me to expect an internal crisis to happen. They didn’t say with who though. When Mom gave me the stone, I thought it would look nice against that tiny suit you wear.” Five couldn’t find it in him to be insulted that Klaus thought his clothes were a suit. “This stone is called the tiger’s eye. It helps cleanse the body and soul of fear, anxiety, and any type of doubt you may be having about yourself.”</p><p>It was oddly on target. “And you wear it?”</p><p>Klaus shrugged. “Only if you want to. You could keep it as a keychain or something. Mom says it’s good to keep close by. Skin to stone contact helps with the healing process, or something.”</p><p>Five inhaled deeply. It was a really thoughtful gift. Unlike anything he had ever received before. “I’ll wear it, thank you.” He nodded curtly, and kept his reply stiff. He eyed the table though, and saw that Klaus had opened all the gifts, but he didn’t see his present there. </p><p>“I wanted to open it with you.” Klaus’ voice drew him back in. He pulled Five’s perfectly wrapped package out of his other skirt pocket.</p><p>“Oh,” Five said quietly. He watched as Klaus carefully unwrapped the paper, as if it were very precious and fragile. Five was startled by the sincerity in which he did the task. </p><p>“Oh,” Klaus said this time. He seemed a bit breathless. He stared at the intricately made bracelet. “It’s the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.” He spoke genuinely.</p><p>Five eyed the other fine, antique jewelry hanging off Klaus’ neck. “I doubt it.” He muttered under his breath.</p><p>“I’m being serious!” Klaus quickly plucked the bracelet out of the box, struggling to put it on. Five ended up putting it on for him. He smiled gently when he knew Klaus wasn’t looking. “No one has ever given me something handmade before who isn’t related to me! They always give me herbs.” </p><p>Five wisely decided not to tell Klaus he had also thought about getting him herbs. “You really like it?”</p><p>“Of course! It even has your name on it. It’s like you’re looking over me even when you’re not there. It’s nice.” Klaus sat up and squeezed his hand. Five stiffened at the touch, but squeezed back. “Let’s join everyone to watch a movie.”</p><p>Five held Klaus’ hand as the other brought him over to the group on the floor. They welcomed them both with bright eyes and kind smiles. Five held Klaus’ hand through the childish movie they finally decided on, and Five held Klaus’ hand through the night as they slept side by side.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Do you ever just cry in the middle of the night while writing fanfiction because you know your future is going to lead you to a boring job that you just absolutely hate but can’t get out of because apparently money is something we need to have to live comfortably but you would rather do literally anything else but you’ve dug yourself into a hole and you realize you really don’t have your whole life ahead of you and you need to get your shit together? And thinking about everything makes you have a crisis so you cry even harder and wallow in self pity alone in the darkness?</p><p>:’)</p><p>Ffs fml</p><p>thanks for reading!</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. The Future on a Canvas</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter is short, only about 2.4K words, but it is still one I really enjoyed writing. I'm an art student, so lowkey this was me venting but high key it plays to the story. Anyway, I'm so happy to get your feedback and comments. I've been reply to them all, slowly and steadily. I've started writing chapters for the middle school part of this series, and I'm hoping to have them out soon. Thanks for your continuing interest! Have an amazing day.</p><p>P.S. I'm really surprised I got this out at a reasonable time of day and not 3AM</p><p>P.P.S NOT PROOFREAD CAUSE I SUCK AHAHAH I'll check it later :')</p><p>P.P.P.S Low key got some light angst going but I swear it isn't serious. Should I add the tag light angst? It all leads to fluff, but maybe I should just in case...</p><p>Happy readings everyone!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The birthday party had been a success, subtracting the hiccup during the mid celebration when Five’s mom completely embarrassed him (for good reason, she had told him a countless number of times). Over the course of the next few weeks, the group dynamics at their table seemed to solidify as everyone got more used to each other. </p><p>Five realized it might have been a bit unfair to assume that the rest of his class were morons because they weren’t certified geniuses like himself. He eventually came to realize that even though they may not have been as smart as him in his own fields, they were rather competent in their own. Especially Klaus.</p><p>Diego had actually been the one at their table to get the sports scholarship, and not Luther. This was because of the fact that Luther was surprisingly a big history buff. He had wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps by the time he started walking, and join the marines. His dad advised him to start learning everything about the past, to learn from it. He liked to study strategy and alternative defense during battle, mainly. He even created theoretical battles as practice. If Five were being honest, it was kind of weird a six year old was forming top notch military assault plans. </p><p>Going back to Diego, it was kind of surprising how confident the boy got when they were in his realm of expertise. The group had learnt his brother was a boxer, and he looked up to him greatly. Luckily for the rest of them, Diego wasn’t prone to getting into fights (but they later found out he would, for them, in the distant future). He was an absolute demon at whatever sport he chose to partake in, and Five wondered if he would go to the Olympics one day. </p><p>Vanya had a knack for the violin. She was surprisingly fierce when it came to her playing. She let them all shove their bodies into one of the small practice rooms so she could perform just for them. Klaus, the fool that he was, blubbered like an idiot by the time she was done. He thought it was beautiful. Five had to admit she was a rather skilled and proficient player. She’d have no qualms about getting into any orchestra right out of high school, he supposed. </p><p>Allison, not so surprisingly, was an actor. Apparently, she was quite good, being appraised and adored in newspapers across their state. None of them had seen her act, but there was a play coming up in December that was happening outside of school, and she insisted everyone come when the time came. Five guessed they didn’t have much of a choice though, honestly. She was rather pushy. </p><p>Ben was the most competent person he met so far. Five could say confidently he was the only other non-moron in the group. It was refreshing. His short stories were absolutely brilliant. His most popular among the group had been about a boy who had monsters living in his chest that would destroy everything around him. It was rather sad, and Five wasn’t daft so he caught that it was just one elaborate metaphor, but it didn’t take away from the fact it was genuinely good. Ben said he would probably try to publish it when he was older, but the rest of them shouted at him to publish it now!</p><p>Then there was Klaus. If Five had to describe his art, he’d probably say it was whimsical and effervescent, but it changed sometimes. It was usually very on brand with who Klaus was as a person, bright, light, and very dynamic. Some days, Klaus would still act his same ridiculous self, but his art would be different. Maybe it was how the lines he drew or painted had more weight on them, or how sometimes they looked strained, but they were just off. They were never bad, it was just weird. On those days, when Klaus painted he never spoke to them during his process. Usually he’d be singing and dancing around as he got all his stuff. It just seemed wrong.</p><p>Five had asked him about it once, during their specified art class. He usually didn’t interrupt him on days like that one, but he felt inclined to ask him what was wrong when Klaus had painted half of his canvas Payne's grey. He painted right over another piece he had been working on, that he had been especially proud of. It was of some wheat field and there was a child standing in the middle of it, holding a dragonfly on their finger. Five had liked it, then Klaus had to go paint over it. </p><p>They had all sat together during art, only Klaus was absent. The art teacher really loved him, so she set up an easel in the corner of the room for him. Klaus really hated it, so he had opted to move right next to their table. Their art teacher said nothing, just assumed it was part of his process. She was a little star struck with the kid, Five thought unpleasantly as he watched the woman fawn over him. </p><p>When she had finally left them to their own devices, Five watched as Klaus picked up a large brush and rummaged through his hoarded supply bin to find a certain color. To his horror, Klause put the dark paint directly on his painting, and smeared it around effortlessly, like it was normal to destroy a perfectly good piece of art. Five reached over and grabbed Klaus’ arm thoughtlessly. For the first time, Klaus shrugged him off. Five tried to hide his wounded expression.</p><p>“Klaus, what are you doing?” He hissed between his teeth. </p><p>Klaus frowned deeply at his painting. He grabbed another color and plopped it onto the canvas. This time, it was mars black. He started by placing a strip along the edge of his canvas, and then working it to spread like some sort of disease across the entirety of the surface. </p><p>“Klaus, stop! You worked weeks on that,” Five grabbed his arm again persistently; this time Klaus didn’t shrug him off. </p><p>“It isn’t right.” Klaus said as he glared at the now darkened canvas. Not an inch of his initial painting was left. </p><p>“Of course it isn’t right, you just painted over the whole thing! What’s wrong?” He asked again, loosening his grip on the other’s arm.</p><p>Klaus looked at his hands smeared in varying hues. “Aren’t there just days you don’t feel like you?”</p><p>“No,” Five answered quickly, then he saw Klaus deflate. “But I know a lot of people feel like that.”</p><p>“I don’t know why it happens, but sometimes I can’t stand the things I’ve made. People like them, but I don’t.” Klaus dropped his paintbrush in his cup of water. He swirled it around in the glass jar, watching as it turned into a murky swamp color. </p><p>“But why not? What changes? I know you liked them initially.” Five insisted as he finally dropped his hand back to his side, releasing Klaus entirely. </p><p>“Sometimes they stop feeling like a part of me. Other people say when they paint, it helps them show a piece of them. When I paint, sometimes I lose a piece of me.” Klaus looked sadly at the canvas. Five made an injured noise in the back of his throat. “That’s why I paint over them. I guess I’m mourning its loss.”</p><p>Five contemplated this thought carefully. It didn’t really make sense to him, but it seemed like it was something Klaus knew was a fact. “Does it happen a lot?”</p><p>Klaus thought for a moment, before shaking his head. “There are some pieces I treasure more than others, and those are usually the ones to leave.”</p><p>Klaus got this look like he wanted to leave as well. Without thinking, Five reached out to grab his hand firmly. “Maybe it would help if you paint something in memory of that piece? It sounds a bit ridiculous, but maybe it would help. Or you could paint the process of its loss, for closure.”</p><p>Klaus smiled at Five gently. It was a smile that wasn’t as wide as his normal one, it didn’t make his eyes crinkle cutely at the sides, but it made him look soft. “Maybe.”</p><p>It was a promise that he’d think about. The loss of his paintings clearly took a toll on him. It made Five’s gut wrench in discomfort every time he saw that black canvas sitting on their drying rack. That day, Five decided to buy Klaus a donut in the cafeteria to cheer him up. The sight of the sugary monstrosity made Five queasy, but seeing Klaus’ grin reach his eyes as he took a bite into the abomination made Five feel lighter. </p><p> </p><p>Klaus hadn’t taken his advice so far, but he did start working on another piece. He was secretive about it. He had moved his easel to face towards the table, so the others couldn’t see what he was doing. Klaus said it was for light purposes, but Five knew something was up.</p><p>Throughout the next week, Klaus would never show anyone what he was painting, and even went to the extent of hiding it in their teacher’s office. Sometimes they would come in, and it would be sitting on his easel, but there would be a thin sheet covering it, only for Klaus to remove. </p><p>It was rather peculiar, and Five was heavily interested in what the boy had been creating. He wanted to ask about it, but he didn’t feel as if it were his place. Instead, he just silently watched and waited for the time that Klaus would be done, hoping then he could catch a glimpse at it. </p><p>Five had never been a huge fan of art. It was mainly because his interest never fell in that direction. He didn’t really see a point of creating something just to look at it, or have it be looked at. It had honestly all seemed a bit superficial. He also thought many of the art in museums were overpriced and glorified pieces of colorful paper. </p><p>To say the least, Five wasn’t a connoisseur of the arts but he did become interested in it through Klaus. He didn’t seem to like anyone else’s work as much as Klaus’, so he just assumed it was because the boy was better than everyone else. He was a prodigy after all.</p><p>When it got to Friday, and it was time to go home, Five watched as Klaus rushed down the hallway, in the opposite direction of the entrance, towards the art room. They usually walked together, so Five was hesitant about leaving him. In the end, he told the others to go without them, and tracked down Klaus.</p><p>Five popped his head into the art room, scanning his surroundings as he looked around for the spirited boy. Just as he was about to go inside, he saw Klaus rush out, carrying the painting he had been working on. There was a smile on his face as Klaus saw that Five waited for him. </p><p>“I’m so glad you’re here, now I can give this to you!” Five squawked out in a surprised manner as Klaus shoved the canvas in his face. “After I went home the day I painted over my other piece, I had a dream.”</p><p>Five looked at the painting he now held gingerly in his hands. It was of two boys sitting side by side. One was pointing up at something, and the other one was looking at the one pointing with a soft smile. Their faces and figures were blurry, but Five still recognized something about it was familiar. </p><p>The eyes were what was familiar. The one pointing had Klaus’ green eyes, and they reflected stars and the moon, the subject of where he was pointing. The other looking at the one with green eyes had his blue eyes, darkened by the night, but still recognizable as his own. Their shoulders had been pressed closely together and the back of their hands were touching in a similar fashion. </p><p>“Is this… us?” Five asked cautiously, hovering his fingertips over the image of Klaus’ older, blurred face. </p><p>“Yeah,” he responded cheerily. He walked around to look at the painting with Five. “The dream was blurry, but I could see our eyes, and I knew it was us. I think it is when we are older.”</p><p>“It’s perfect.” Five stated unabashedly, not embarrassed because it was true. </p><p>Klaus cheeks reddened, and it made Five think he liked to see the other boy flustered in compliments he gave. “Well, since you’re my knight and you protect me,” Klaus breathed in deeply. “I want you to have this. Please protect this piece of me. It feels safer with you.”</p><p>Five stared at the raw earnestness on Klaus’ face. It made his heart rate speed up quickly. Klaus trusted him with a piece of him. To protect a piece of him. Five would protect all of him, he didn’t even have to ask. Still, it made him feel as if he were soaring. </p><p>“I’ll protect it with my life.” It was a promise Five would keep. Klaus smiled at him so brightly, but Five didn’t look away. He wanted to bathe in that light and memorize the curve of his smile so he’d always remember it. </p><p>His mom had eyed the painting when he got to her car, but Five had clutched it gently to his chest. He wasn’t ready to share it with just anyone yet. It was something only between him and Klaus. </p><p>When they got home, Five had rushed to his room and placed it sitting upright on his desk. For the next couple hours while he waited for dinner, he had just sat and stared at it. He studied every stroke of the paint, and it made him feel tingly. There was a knock on the door that interrupted his admiring. </p><p>“Sweetie, it’s dinner time.” Five grunted, his eyes never straying the piece. His mom smiled gently. “You know, we can hang that up if you’d like. Right above your desk.”</p><p>“Yeah, I’d like that please.” Five said quietly. </p><p>Five had never been fond of one particular work of art, but he fell in love with Klaus’. Of course, he didn’t recognize what that feeling was, but he knew it was special, and so was Klaus. That was enough reasoning for Five.</p>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Soccer is Better with Friends</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi everyone! Happy holidays!</p><p>I know it's been a hot minute, but I've been swamped with final projects and research papers. I'm so glad it's done, and I'm very happy to have done well. I wish I could've updated this sooner! Here it is now though. </p><p>WARNING! I have not proofread this. I started writing this sober, got drunk in the middle, and sobered up towards the end. All mistakes are definitely my fault. I'll get around to fixing them eventually. I'm also looking at everyone's comments and I'll try to reply ASAP!</p><p>You guys are great :') thanks for dealing with my weird schedule. Hope you enjoy! </p><p>P.S. More fluff will be in the next chapter.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Klaus had worn the bracelet Five had given him everyday since he first put it on him. When Five had eyed Klaus’ wrist discreetly the first day they got back and, to his pleasure, saw that the other was wearing his gift, he practically preened. The others had complimented Klaus on how pretty it was and praised Five for making such a thoughtful gift. It was mainly the girls doing all the praise, with occasionally Ben; Luther just looked at it blankly and nodded while Diego decided to opt out of mentioning anything at all. </p><p>Five didn’t quite know what to make of Diego. He was really shy, his speech impediment didn’t help his case at all, but he was an absolute barbarian when it came to sports. The only time he showed any confidence was when they had to participate in gym. Sure, all them were a little competitive (besides Klaus, because he’d much rather sit in a meadow, or something like that), but Diego took it to a whole other level. If they were all on a team together, Five, Diego and Luther would quickly devise strategic plans together to take down the opponents. Ben would sometimes join if he could get Klaus to stop blabbing his ear off. Diego always took charge in those instances because he said he evaluated everyone’s skill and potential. </p><p>If Five were being honest, he really did think Diego was the dumbest out of the whole group (again, besides Klaus because he is on a different scale of idiocy). He thought he was just some knucklehead with a talent for kicking or throwing a ball. It was surprisingly a bit refreshing to be proven wrong. Of course, Five didn’t like to be wrong at all, but sometimes it kept him on his toes. He wouldn’t let himself be fooled so easily again, though. </p><p>Outside of gym Diego was honestly a bumbling fool. He struggled to keep up with the rest of the group academically, and he was actually sort of clumsy because he spaced out so often. Then again, when Five tried to throw a rock at him during their recess to see what would happen; Diego had quickly caught it and threw it back. Five, of course, caught it as well, but he was surprised at Diego’s reaction time. Five had thrown it at his head when he wasn’t looking because he was too busy talking with Klaus. </p><p>It wasn’t that Five disliked Diego. The boy honestly hadn’t done anything for Five to harbor rage towards him. Sure, Diego liked to sit next to Klaus during lunch. And yeah, sometimes he and Klaus would huddle up in a corner with Ben during their quiet reading times. Five could even let it pass when Diego patted Klaus’ shoulder in a friendly manner. He did glare when the hand lingered a bit longer than he liked.</p><p>Five hadn’t realized how much he noticed the physical contact between them at first. It started with fingers touching as they passed a crayon to finish off their classwork. It progressed to arm linking in the hallways as they walked to their next elective, and Five finally seemed to really notice when Klaus had hugged Diego the way he hugged Ben; it involved all his limbs, and clinging to him like some type of unruly octopus. </p><p>This had sparked quite a bit of anger in Five. Instead of lashing out and tackling Diego in a chokehold he had seen a man do on a television in a store, he started counting backwards in his head from one hundred by sevens. In the time it took for Five to reach fifty-eight, Klaus had released Diego from his clutches, the other boy struggling to string together one coherent thought, his face as bright as a cherry.</p><p>Even with his temper slightly toned down, Five didn’t stop himself stomping over to the pair to see what nonsense they were so absorbed in. Klaus never really ignored Five for long periods of time unless Diego was attempting to lengthen his and Klaus’ conversations by stuttering every word. It irked him whenever he saw Klaus patiently hang onto every word the other kid said. He sometimes would even grab his hand in encouragement if he was struggling particularly hard that day forming words. This, in turn, would make the other’s stutter worsen even further. </p><p>When Five finally reached the duo he, to his dismay, saw that their hands were linked tightly together. Klaus smiled at him and Diego shot him a smaller, more appeasing one as well. Five’s scowl just deepened as he never shifted his gaze away from their intertwined fingers. He clenched his hand into a fist. His fingernails dug into his palms leaving tiny indents in his skin. </p><p>“What are you two so happy about?” Five grumbled out, his piercing gaze locked onto Diego’s.</p><p>“Diego invited me to his soccer game this weekend. It’s just at the park in the downtown area. We are going out to eat afterwards!” Klaus rambled on expressively. Five’s eye twitched. “I’ve never been downtown but mom always said that it is very vibrant.”</p><p>“Why didn’t you invite the rest of us? Why just Klaus? Luther loves sports, and so does Allison. I’m sure they would love to see you play.” Five responded sarcastically. </p><p>Five could not have honestly cared less about Diego’s soccer game. Diego was just being such a pain in his butt. Wasn’t it enough to steal a large portion of Klaus’ time during school? Did he really have to stoop so low into claiming even more of Klaus’ attention over a sports game?<br/>
“Uh, w-well I w-was going to invite everyone, b-but I d-didn’t think they w-would be interested…” Diego trailed off, his hand on his neck rested embarrassingly. Five looked at him bemused. </p><p>“Why don’t I ask everyone if they want to go?” Five turned to the group who was walking ahead of them; they were determined to get their claimed lunch table. It was decided they were at war with another group of kids who wanted their spot. “Hey guys, Diego wants us to go to his soccer game this weekend but he is too shy to ask. I think we should all support him.”</p><p>Allison bounded over to the trio lagging behind. She fiercely hugged Diego who looked a little lost. “Diego, you should have said something! I’d love to come watch your game.”</p><p>Vanya trailed behind with Luther at her side. They both had small smiles on their faces, Luther’s being the most enthusiastic. They both nodded to him encouragingly, and Diego could only let out a strained smile. Five had a smug look grace his face as he noticed Diego realize he couldn’t get out of inviting them all. </p><p>“I-if everyone w-wants to go, I-I’ll see y-you guys Saturday?” The loud and boisterous roaring that came from the group was enough of an answer for Diego. </p><p>As they headed to lunch, and Five took his position next to Klaus, he saw Diego lagging glumly behind. Their eyes met, and Five gave Diego a heated look. To his surprise, Diego returned the look with a nasty glare of his own. </p><p>Five didn’t really like surprises, but he knew that the game that he and the other boy were in would be fun. What they would be winning, Five couldn’t be positive. He thought it might have to do with dignity and teriority. Like animals peeing and releasing pheromones, but in a less gross way. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Come the weekend, Five’s mom was still rather shocked that her son wanted to go support another friend for a sports game. Five never showed obvious interest when her and Vincent had recommended a more strenuous physical extracurricular, so it was quite a surprise for him to beg to skip out on the tutoring he loved so much to go to a soccer match. Of course, both of them agreed readily as having fun was equally as important as studying, even more so during childhood. They were just both glad that Five was making such a good group of friends who encouraged him to step out of his comfort zone. </p><p>Vincent had work left to do for his job, so Eileen took it upon herself to attend the soccer game with Five. He did say that he would try to join up with them at a later time, as they were planning on eating out as a family afterwards. He and Five were so alike in many ways, always investing all their time and effort into work and studying, always forgetting to enjoy the small moments, and such. Eileen was just pleased Five was finally asking for a break instead of her having to force him into one.</p><p>The car ride to the match was spent with Five bouncing his leg up and down anxiously. His mother eyed him from the rear view mirror, she mistook his nervousness for excitement. </p><p>“Sweetie, are you that excited for the game?” Five grunted.</p><p>“No.”</p><p>Eileen nearly jerked the car. It clearly wasn’t the response she was expecting. “Um, so are you nervous?”</p><p>“I don’t know.” Five spoke in frustrated voice as they pulled into the parking lot of a local park downtown. Eileen left it at that, not wanting to ruin his mood. Once she parked the car, she spotted the group of her son’s friends easily.</p><p>“Oh sweetie, look! Your friends are just over-” Before she could finish speaking, Five was already out of the car and rushing to join the gathering. “Jeez, that boy is so rowdy now-a-days.”</p><p>Five easily made his way to join everyone. He hadn’t told his mom he was anxious because they were running really late because that wasn’t the issue. The issue definitely wasn't Diego trying to always take Klaus’ attention. That wasn’t important; what was important was that Diego was clearly looking down on him and his authority. That challenging look in the hall at school proved it. Five couldn’t let that kind of disrespect pass. </p><p>As he expected, he was the last one to arrive. Everyone else had come and set up a little spot to sit and watch the game play out. Most of them had brought some type of folding chair to sit on, the kids all sitting together while the adults grouped with their own kind. Five scanned past all of them until his eyes landed on Klaus’ little body huddled in a large sweater, sitting on a blanket on the ground. He had another fuzzy blanket resting over his lap. </p><p>As if recognizing Five’s stare, Klaus turned around beaming. He began waving frantically with one arm, beckoning the other to come closer. His other hand was used to point and pat at the seat he seemed to save besides him. Five felt the cool air brush past his cheeks and leave his whole face feeling warmer than necessary. He shoved his hands in his pockets and hastened his pace to sit next to Klaus. </p><p>Once he got close enough, everyone greeted him merrily. Klaus reached up to tug at Five’s stiff arm, and brought him down to sit side by side. The initial contact of Klaus gripping Five’s arm with his warm hand was just startling, not unpleasant. The warmth of the other seeped past his long sleeve shirt and left him feeling lighter. </p><p>“Hey, Fivey, how’s it hanging?” Klaus leaned against him sweetly, like a cat nuzzling against it’s human. Five felt that weird warmness grow from within his chest. </p><p>“You’re cutting it close, Five! Diego’s match is practically starting.” Allison scolded motherly.</p><p>“In about five minutes,” Vanya chided. </p><p>Five rolled his eyes and patted Klaus’s hair as he rested his head on his shoulder. “We got lost coming to the park. My mom made a couple of wrong turns. We don’t really come to this side of the city often.”</p><p>“I get that,” Luther cut in. “My mom was worried about lateness, so she had us leave an extra twenty minutes early. Diego was here, fortunately, so we didn’t have to wait in the car.”</p><p>The three went back to chatting and talking over themselves, while Five and Klaus were left to talk quietly in their own little world. “You’re wearing the stone!”</p><p>Five looked down bashfully. “Yeah, I always wear it under my clothes. You did say the best effects would be skin to stone.” Five responded sagely. </p><p>Klaus fell into one of his giggling fits that made Five feel like he had intestinal issues. “You’re so cool!”</p><p>“Cool is a temperature. If you are talking about the slang usage, I don’t see how I’ve managed to do anything to warrant your use of the word ‘cool’ to describe me.” Five mumbled out. </p><p>“Well, I like cool temperatures.” Klaus smiled sweetly at him. Five scoffed and whacked him gently across the head. </p><p>“Just watch the game, idiot! It’s starting.”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Sabine and Eileen sat next to each other, chatting idly. They both watched their boys huddling close together. Both of them smiled gently at the scene they made. Sabine had two trays of coffee next to her. One of them was almost empty while the other one was out completely. Each parent had their own recyclable mug given to them by the Germanic woman, and Eileen was no exception. </p><p>“Thank you so much! I need it. It’s been a long morning already, not to complain or anything. I haven’t seen Five this excited to go out in a long while.” Eileen happily took the cup of coffee.</p><p>“It’s the same way with Klaus. He had a hard time making friends in our neighborhood, so he helped me around the shop when he was younger than he was now. He was very attached to me, at the hip, as the saying goes. Now I see he’s attached to your little knight.” Sabine touched her cheek gently as she looked thoughtfully at the two.</p><p>Eileen nodded, taking a sip of her coffee. Her eyes widened in disbelief. “Oh my god! This is perfect, this is exactly how I take my coffee!” </p><p>“It’s good, isn’t it?” Allison’s father, Emmett, commented happily. “Mine was how I normally would make it too. Three creams, no sugar. It’s so impressive. She got everyone’s order right.”</p><p>Sabine smiled what seemed to be at them, but if they were looking close enough, her eyes seemed to drift past them and off a bit into the distance behind them. It was a bit of a quirk that her and Klaus both seemed to have. </p><p>“They all told me how you take your coffee and I just listened. You should come to our home and I can give you food and a free reading! I’m not nearly as good as my sister, so she can do our two family’s reading for us. You come, yes?” Sabine took Eileen’s arm in her hand. </p><p>Eileen smiled at her kindly, albeit a bit timidly. “I would love to come for dinner some time. I’m sure Five would be just as happy to go. He might not be too happy that his father and I are there with him, but I’m sure he’ll get over it.”</p><p>“I can see he is disciplined, but sometimes lacks self restraint, as we all do. I am sure he will understand when Klaus tells him it is important for everyone to come.” Sabine insisted. </p><p>They both sipped their coffees and watched as Klaus spoked animatedly with his whole body, and Five watched, entranced, and holding onto every word the other said. Eileen smiled. </p><p>“I think he’s very different with your boy, and it’s a side I’m glad to see in him. He’s never been interested in others, even us as parents. It has always been difficult to connect with him because his brain and mentality is very ahead of him. This is good in some cases, but sometimes it holds him back from being a regular kid who has friends his age. The only people he ever wanted to talk to were men in their early 60’s who have a love for science. After he came home that first day of school, Vincent and I knew we made the right choice on sending him with kids his age.” Eileen admitted to Sabine quietly. </p><p>Sabine never interrupted, just smiled encouragingly at her. “I don’t need to read them to see that they are good for each other. I don’t need to read them to also see that they will face struggles in their future.” She paused for a minute. “The whole group will face tragedies and adversity. Together, they are strong, but they must remember they are individuals as well.”</p><p>Eileen looked worriedly at Sabine who was staring intensely at the kids. “Sabine?”</p><p>The other snapped her head back to see Eileen’s concern. Her eyes were a little glazed, but the cloudiness dispersed quickly. “Ah, but don’t worry. They will not deal with hardships anytime soon. I know that they will all find happiness in the end. Let’s not fret about this now! It looks like the small warrior on the field has scored a goal!”</p><p> </p><p>Eileen let the comments slide and opted to tuck that small conversation in the back of her mind. She looked to the group of small children, barely tall enough to reach past the hips of their guardians. They all cheered and hugged each other with such ferocity and tenderness as they watched their friend succeed. Eileen felt her heart swell with joy as she watched Five get pulled into the group embrace. </p><p>Even if he resisted and shouted like a temperamental cat, he ultimately was defeated when Klaus wrapped his arm around Five’s shoulder and tugged him in gently with the others. It was a good day.</p>
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<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Griddy’s Bets</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey everyone,</p><p>So it’s definitely been a hot minute. I wrote the beginning of this chapter awhile ago but something unexpected happened with my living arrangements and family so it’s been hectic ahahaha. Sorry for the slow update. Also, classes are starting back up for me at college so I’m not sure when I’ll be able to update more. I’ll probably update when I’m procrastinating LMAO </p><p>Anyway, I’m pretty tired but I wanted to updated so I wrote stuff and I don’t know if it makes sense but I hope it does. If it doesn’t I’ll definitely redo this lol.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>While Five hadn’t openly been cheering for the other team, he was still a little disappointed when Diego scored the winning goal of the game. It’s not that he really wanted him to lose, he just didn’t want him to look so impressive in front of everyone. Not a specific person, just the general group. </p><p>Five recognized it may be weird to want one person’s attention so much. It seemed to be a bit unnatural to outsiders, though Five’s interest was hardly forced. Because of this though though, he began to think that it was a bit strange. Seeing as how there was hardly anything wrong with him, he mistook his fascination as wanting to solidify his position amongst the group as the best. Seeing as the group was full of capable people, he would have to work hard. </p><p>Five was merely focusing on Klaus at the moment because the boy was a gullible fool. A really cute fool who could be persuaded by lies and mediocrities that Five was sure Diego was made of. Once he was certain that Klaus knew that he was superior in every which way, then the others would easily follow. They were fools too. </p><p>Returning to the present, Five had to witness the total grossness of Klaus hugging a very out of breath Diego once he came over to meet the group, who was already walking to him, after the game. Everyone was slapping him on the back or ruffling his hair, throwing compliments and words of admiration towards him. Five wrung the sleeves of his shirt agitatedly. </p><p>“Diego, you were amazing! Ben wanted to be here but his mom wouldn’t let him skip out on helping her with work. He did say he would try to meet up with all of us at Griddy’s Doughnuts, but no promises! Anyway, congratulations!” Klaus gave him an octopus for far too long. Every second that ticked by made Five want to storm over there and hit Diego’s stupid face because he was far too arrogant. </p><p>“Dude, when the ball flew past the goalie’s head, I swear everything went in slow-mow! It was like ‘whoosh’ as it brushed past his ear. It was totally awesome! And let’s not forget you literally scored every single goal. That is nothing to sneeze at. That is seriously cool.” Luther complimented Diego heavily. Talking about either sports or strategies was the only way to get Luther to speak animatedly or confidently. </p><p>“Thanks! They were tough opponents.” When Diego was pumped with endorphins and adrenaline while simultaneously being surrounded by his friends, his stuttering was significantly less present. </p><p>“Diego, I swear, you could play professionally! You’re so good. You are definitely going to be scouted when you’re older.” Allison gave Diego a high five and a toothy grin. </p><p>“It was really cool watching you play. We’ve seen you in gym class but we never actually got to watch you in action. You’re insanely talented.” Vanya gushed as her eyes sparkled. Five noticed she liked watching others succeed. He’d consider it an odd character trait, but it suited her in a way. </p><p>Klaus had let go of Diego by then, but he was still hovering right next to him. He bumped his shoulder into Diego’s playfully and Five continued to suffer through watching the soccer star become increasingly flustered. It made Five want to throw more rocks at his head. Of course, he couldn’t do that with any witnesses (especially his mother).</p><p>“T-thanks for coming,” he looked at Klaus directly, and the other smiled and locked his fingers in with Diego’s. Diego, in response, heated up so there was practically smoke radiating off of his ears. “Everyone! T-t-thank you everyone. It m-means a lot.” </p><p>They didn’t release hands, even after the parents started filing over to take their respective child in their car. They were too engrossed talking about who knows what to pay attention to their surroundings. If Five were being honest, it was quite rude of Diego to ignore his other friends. </p><p>Eileen walked over to her sulking son who stood a good ways back from the rest of the group. He had an obvious pout plastered over his youthful face, and he was ruining one of his better shirt’s sleeves. Eileen watched as Five would occasionally glance over to Diego and Klaus, and then angrily look back down once he saw their closeness never changed. </p><p>“So I heard there was going to be a get together at this Griddy’s Doughnuts? I texted your dad, who can’t get out for dinner. Would you like to go?” Eileen asked as she attempted to pat Five’s head, only for her gentle hand to be dodged as if it were a fist. She smiled at her boy, he always had quick reflexes. </p><p>“Why would I want to go?” Five asked petulantly as he watched Vanya and Allison pull the others into a big group hug. His frown deepened. </p><p>“You could go join them, you know? Instead of sulking over here.” Eileen chided playfully. </p><p>Five practically hissed in discontent at her words. “I am not sulking!”</p><p>Eileen hummed thoughtfully. “Then what would you call it?”</p><p>“Observing.” Five stuck his nose up in the air haughtily. Eileen stifled a chuckle and pushed her son forward. </p><p>“On with you then. Why don’t you observe closer? Observing from a distance will only get you so far.” Five grumbled as he slunk his way quietly over to the group, trying to be as stealthy and discreet as possible. </p><p>He would probably ruin the mood, he thought grumpily. He always said something or did something to make someone upset or uncomfortable. He knew he was a bit abrasive so he did try to make himself scarce at times, especially if the atmosphere was all fluffy like it was with his group of desk mates at the moment. </p><p>If Five was in a bad mood, it would be guaranteed to last at least half the day or longer and then he would be like a wet towel thrown on the pre-established ‘good vibes’. He hated having such drastic mood changes, and he hated even more how difficult it was for him to control them. Being emotional was not something he wanted to pride himself in, it was just plain embarrassing and a hindrance. </p><p>He never really noticed how severe his mood swings were until school started, but it kind of sucked. He never cared much to be thoughtful about others and how they feel, and this was mainly because it never mattered to Five. Once him and his desk mates became closer, nearly friends, Five realized how much effort went into relationships. </p><p>In all honesty, it wasn’t worth it. It was a real big pain and forced Five to be more conscious of others. His parents loved his growing awareness, but Five saw it as a thorn in his side. Being aware of so many people made his emotions go into overload, and sometimes he would swear they malfunctioned so all he could do was revert back to his crass and brash nature. </p><p>If he were being really honest, which he wasn’t, he still didn’t really care much about what the others thought or what the mood was like currently, but he knew Klaus did. Klaus cared too much about others and their wants and needs. And unfortunately for Five, but fortunately for Klaus, he cared about Klaus on some sort of level. </p><p>He knew the boy liked gentle atmospheres and friendly and warm days. He knew that Klaus liked laughter and happiness to shine through in conversations. Five hated this growing awareness. It took up too much space in his day to day thinking. He’d find a way to shut it back off indefinitely. For now, he was stuck caring about making sure Klaus was kept in a good mood. </p><p>Five didn’t want to deal with his big crocodile tears he got when he was sad. He also didn’t want to deal with the loud sniffling and pathetic whimpering that came with Klaus’ sadness. Truth be told, Five was only really aware when it came to Klaus and anything that could impact the other. Of course, Five hadn’t yet put two and two together because of his love for denial.</p><p>The walk over was short no matter how hard Five tried to prolong the trip. It was mostly in hopes of getting his anger in check. By the time he reached the group, he went from seething to just starting to boil. Five had to admit he was pretty proud of himself for lowering his levels of homicidal rage. There was no reason to kick Diego in the back of the knees for still standing so close to Klaus.</p><p>“Diego,” Five began shortly. “You played pretty well.” </p><p>Diego’s eyebrow quipped up questionly but he gave an arrogant grin anyways. “I know.”</p><p>Five almost let out a snort at how smug he sounded but he did his best to stay indifferent. All he offered was a curt nod before reaching out and pulling Klaus closer to him. This time, it was Klaus’ turn to tilt his head in confusion. </p><p>“There was a bug near your head.” Five didn’t tell him that he was talking about Diego. The boy was practically a bug, he was always buzzing too closely to Klaus. If Five could squash him, he would. He kept to himself, which was a wise decision. </p><p>Klaus only smiled brightly at Five and let the boy cling onto the sleeve of his own sweater. Five smirked triumphantly and eyed the winning soccer star with his own rekindled smugness. </p><p>Diego frowned at their interaction, but hesitated to do anything. There were times where none of them could really get closer to those two, not even Ben. It was probably because Five liked to send off this stingy aura of hatred at anyone who tried to disturb them when they were alone. Nobody was excluded from his evil eyes. If Five could set up a world where it would only include him and Klaus, he probably would try, Diego thought soundly. </p><p>Allison interrupted their staring contest with a complaint and a loud growl of her stomach. “Guys, I haven’t eaten in forever. Let’s go get food!” </p><p>There was a chorus of agreements and they all began to separate to help gather all their belongings into the car and get ready to depart to Griddy’s. Diego watched from the field as Five helped Klaus carry all of his blankets to the car, and stayed and helped to buckle him into the seat. Klaus took it all in stride, practically preening under the other’s attentive care. It was really weird, Diego decided. It definitely wasn’t what normal friends did. </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>They had gotten the biggest booth possible at Griddy’s. It was a semicircle with ugly and tacky vinyl that even had small tares and scratches in it. They were seated next to one of the big windows towards the front that overlooked the bustling street. The parents respectfully occupied a few tables very close by and let the kids have a small amount of privacy away from them. </p><p>The quaint shop itself had no particular features that stood out. Truthfully, it reminded Five of a typical diner truckers probably frequented. The ones that were small and located just off the highway and labeled as a ‘pit-stop’ or had a large sign that said ‘Get Grub’ over it. The vibe it gave off was retro-chic meets dimensional timeslip. </p><p>It wasn’t as dirty or grimy like Five thought it would be, fortunately. That was probably because a young waitress by the name of ‘Agnes’ had been sweeping up before the large party entered. She had light blonde hair and a gentle disposition. She couldn’t have been older than sixteen, and it was probably her first job. She arrived at the parent’s table first, jotting down all their orders that probably consisted of coffee and gross meals that consisted of too many vegetables.  </p><p>“You can put it all on the same check.” A woman without shoes whispered to Agnes as she walked past her. “Give it to me.” </p><p>The woman winked, and let Agnes continue taking orders. None of the other adults had been the wiser as to what just conspired. </p><p>Before she went to collect the children’s orders at the next table over, the parents did tell her they already told their children the limit of how many sugary treats they could have before they would be cut off. Agnes took it in stride, her youthfulness shone brightly when she gave a large smile. One woman with chestnut hair stopped her and said that if the constipated boy asked for coffee, only give him a cup. Agnes looked as if she wanted to argue about if giving coffee to a elementary was even the right thing to do, but being young and impressionable, she only nodded tightly. </p><p>As she walked over to the table, baby pink uniform stiffly clinging to her body, she couldn’t help but give a tiny chuckle as she watched the kids practically bounce out of their seats as they watched her approach. She supposed they must’ve been very hungry for donuts. </p><p>“Hi, everyone! I’m Agnes and I’ll be your waitress for today. Can I start you all off with drinks, or are you ready to order too?” She asked the sea of energy in front of her. </p><p>“We’re ready for both.” A very grumpy looking boy snapped the menu shut and stared her down. </p><p>“I’ll take a reuben on rye and a cup of coffee. French fries are good for the side.” It was a surprisingly adult order. Agnes jotted it down with a hum. </p><p>“That’s a good choice! The kitchen makes great sandwiches.” She eyed the boy next to him. She noted that he and the grumpy one were holding hands. It was rather cute and it almost made her want to coo. “What can I get for you, sweetie?” </p><p>“I want a cinnamon donut and a hash brown please.” Agnes wanted to question him a bit for the even odder order, but she wisely chose not to when she caught the stink eye of the grumpy one. </p><p>“Okay, would you like anything to drink?” The boy, who had a much cuter disposition than the other, scrunched his eyebrows together. </p><p>“Whatever tea you have would be nice, and some chocolate milk, please.” He asked politely.</p><p>“Iced or hot tea?” </p><p>“Hot tea with an ice cube in it, thanks.” It was honestly the oddest order Agnes had ever gotten. </p><p>The other children’s orders consisted of what Agnes supposed would go together, unlike the second mash up of weird combinations. Most of them wanted donuts while some wanted actual food. When she got to the tanned boy, she was surprised when he ordered a half pound burger with extra fries and sausage links. Then again, he did have a sports bag sitting below the table, acting as his foot rest. </p><p>Agnes quickly scurried off to quickly get the orders into the kitchen. She left the children to their own devices. They all had been whispering at that point, trying to be polite while everyone ordered, but once the waitress left, their loud and incessant chatter rose up once again. </p><p>“So, guys,” Allison started the conversation off. “I literally cannot keep this to myself. I heard Mr. Pogo and Ms. Grace whispering to each other and they were talking about a field trip!” </p><p>“Wait, are you serious?” Surprisingly, this was Five who asked the question. </p><p>Was it because he was looking forward to having new adventures with his weird ragtag group of desk mates? Far from it. Field trips meant bus rides, usually lengthy bus rides. Bus rides meant sitting with screaming classmates for extensive periods of time. Field trips meant someone peeing their pants and crying about it, or someone getting lost and the rest of them having to sit on a bench and wait for their classmate to be found. Five loathed the idea of Field trips. If he wanted to go somewhere, he’d do it himself. Or, with the help of his mom and dad because he wasn’t old enough to o drive. </p><p>“Yes! They were talking about it Thursday.” Allison confirmed with a very firm nod of her head. </p><p>“And you kept it to yourself this whole time?” Vanya questioned, surprised and a bit snarky. Her attitude came out when she was relaxed. </p><p>“Pfft, Vanya! You really don’t think I can keep a secret?” Allison playfully nudged her. Vanya rolled her eyes. </p><p>“I’m just saying, it must’ve been pretty hard keeping us in the dark.” Allison groaned. </p><p>“You have no idea. There was just never a good time where everyone was paying attention. There was always someone from another desk group around. Besides, this is our secret!” </p><p>Technically, it wouldn’t be a secret for much longer as their teachers had been talking about it recently. Five deduced that meant the event had to be coming within the next couple weeks or so, and would be introduced after their weekend. </p><p>“What’s this secret everyone’s talking about?” It was Ben’s mellow voice. The others cheered at his appearance. </p><p>“Ben!”</p><p>“You made it!”</p><p>They all scooted over a bit to make more room for their friend to sit down. He didn’t come in with anyone. Luther was the one to ask. For some reason, the big guy was almost as mother hen as the girls were, not that it was a bad thing. It was just rather surprising. </p><p>“Where are your parents?” The tall boy asked curiously. </p><p>Ben just shrugged his shoulders. “My brother dropped me off. He said to catch a ride home with Klaus. But what secret are we talking about? Anything good?”</p><p>Ben was surprisingly interested in gossip. Five wasn’t sure if it was the writer in him wanting more first hand experience with different kinds of situations, or if he was just genuinely nosey. Five still hated surprises, but he seemed to surround himself with surprising people. Maybe he’d grow to like surprises yet. </p><p>“We are going on a field trip, but I have no clue where it will be.” Allison updated Ben on their current knowledge. </p><p>“We should make bets.” Ben declared after he was caught up. </p><p>“We totally should make bets!” Klaus cheered happily. He leaned into Five, and Five stiffened at their closeness before letting his body melt next to the other’s in comfort. Their hands were no longer linked together, but their pinkies brushed lazily against one another. </p><p>“I have a really cute hamster pencil eraser I’ll bet.” Vanya chimed in. “I bet we are going to the aquarium.” </p><p>“I have a gold fountain pen with stars engraved on it. My guess is an amusement park.” Luther contributed. </p><p>Ben smirked at them. “My guess is the zoo.” </p><p>“No fair! I wanted to guess the zoo.” Klaus groaned disappointed. </p><p>“You can still guess the zoo, dummy. It just means you’ll have to split the winnings with Ben if you’re right.” Five bonked Klaus over the head lightly. “My guess is the museum.” </p><p>“What are you gonna give up, Five?” Ben wiggled his eyebrows. Five groaned. </p><p>“I have a cool crystallized dung beetle you vultures can have if you win.” </p><p>Five wasn’t ever particularly fond of the dung beetle, but he did name it Henrick and he used it as a paperweight. </p><p>“Well I’m still with Ben about the Zoo, and I have this old broach with a hippo and a gem on it to bet.” Klaus said surely. </p><p>Allison bet ten dollars that they would be going to see a play. They all agreed ten dollars was decent collateral for the bet, and agreed to let her in on it. Diego stuttered out that he believed they would be going to a roller skate rink and bet one of his cool soccer balls. </p><p>By the time the betting pool closed, and everyone had placed something of value on the line to win this weird competition, Agnes had come out with their food. No one had noticed how she snuck their drinks in front of them already, as they were too engrossed in their little world. It was endearing. </p><p>“Hey, kids! Tell me if you need anything.” She eyed the small Asian boy who she failed to notice before. “Oh my lord, did I miss you? I’m so sorry!”</p><p>Agnes kicked herself mentally. The boy was very polite though and quickly reassured her. “I just came in a couple minutes ago. I would like a glazed donut if you have one.”</p><p>“Of course, honey! I’ll be back in just one second.” Agnes scampered off to quickly plate the donut, not wanting the boy to be left out. </p><p>While most of them immediately began digging into their food, including Five, Klaus just sat patiently and chattered away with Ben. He never touched his fork until Agnes came toppling back towards them with a donut in hand. </p><p>“Thank you!” Agnes gave a nod and watched over the children eating happily for a moment longer before departing to serve her other customers. </p><p>As soon as Ben began eating, Klaus picked up his own fork and started to cut into the single, golden hash brown sitting on a plate in front of him. It seemed as if Klaus had better basic table manners then the rest of them did. For a kid so in his own world, it was funny to see him so in tune with others. </p><p>Five had noticed Klaus’ fleeting moments of awareness. At first he knocked it down a bit by convincing himself he was just making all of it up in his head from sleep deprivation. In the end, his well-rested brain recognized that these moments were in fact real. Sometimes, Klaus came back to the real world to focus on specific details or the greater picture of whatever event was happening. His eyes would sharpen and hone in on their target, but within a blink he would be back to having this distant and untouchable look glaze over his irises. </p><p>Five didn’t know what to make of it. He was used to Klaus who was a free spirit and did his own thing. A sharp Klaus seemed off, like it shouldn’t exist. Five was actually just curious to know what events triggered those sporadic responses. At the time, Five was confident he was the only one who realized Klaus was doing it. Maybe he really was paying too much attention to the boy?</p><p>As always though, the awareness came and went, and Klaus was back to being the ditzy fool he was. If it didn’t really affect him negatively, why be concerned? Five filed the information away in case there ever came a time where the information would be important. Five wouldn’t admit it to anybody, but he had a whole file in his head of information on Klaus. He had files for his other desk mates, but nothing compared to how much knowledge he willing accumulated for Klaus. He chose to keep that to himself as well. </p><p>Instead, Five focused on eating his rueben and drinking his coffee single handedly, as Klaus decided to lock hands with the boy once more. He blamed his flush cheeks on the warmth of the coffee.</p>
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<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Bus Rides</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi,<br/>I'm alive and so is this fic. It's been a minute, and I'm sorry I couldn't get another chapter out sooner. I still am invested in this story but, unfortunately, I don't have an update schedule. As all previous chapters, this isn't really proofread. Thanks for everyone's continuing interest. Happy reading!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As Five predicted, field trips were the worst. While The Umbrella Academy was a private institution for international students alike, they were not exempt from the horrid transportation system which were school buses. They were a cesspool of germs and bacteria waiting to attack all passengers on board with a ‘take no prisoners’ mentality. Five had begged his parents to let him stay home, or at the very least, travel in a different mode of transportation, but they just smiled and shook their head no. They wanted him to get the full experience of the excitement of his first school field trip.</p><p>“I hate you both.” Five cursed his parents as his father took photos of him in front of the school bus while his mother tried to rub sunscreen on his face. He swatted her hand away. “Cool it, woman! I can do it myself.”</p><p>Five snatched the sunscreen away from his mother’s grasps and turned his body to escape her grasps. She sighed and straightened up, moving back to stand next to her husband. They both watched happily as Five scraped off most of the sunscreen she had just applied.</p><p>“Honey, you have such sensitive skin. I don’t want you to get burned while you’re at the zoo.” Five tutted at her. </p><p>“It’s mid October. Do you really think I’m going to get a sunburn in October?” Five questioned in a snarky tone. Eileen just shook her head at her boy, smiling fondly.</p><p>“Stop complaining and get on the bus. Your friends are waiting for you.” His father commanded in a light tone. Five turned to face the yellow monstrosity with a grim look etched deeply onto his face. </p><p>He saw his table mates smooshed into two windows, piling on top of each other like dogs. They all had bright smiles on their faces and were waving in hysteric movements. He could hear their muffled yells of excitement through the thick glass. Five sighed to himself. It would be a long forty-five minutes to get to their local zoo. Five couldn’t be less enthused. </p><p>Slowly, he trudged his way to the open doors of the awaiting vehicle. His ‘grumpy old man face,’ as his mother liked to call it, seemed to lighten when he was greeted with the sight of Klaus, standing in the aisles, holding his hand out expectantly. He was wearing a cozy green sweater with a fire engine red jacket on top of it. He wore a heavy wool skirt with small butterflies on them. Five felt his blush push through the heavy layer of sunscreen. </p><p>“What took you so long, Fivey?” Five looked down at the hand, and hesitantly placed his own in the other’s. He still wasn’t used to physical contact, but when he held Klaus’ hand, being surrounded by a slew of other issues that made him uncomfortable didn’t seem so bad. His hands were pleasantly warm and contrasted with the briskness of autumn. It was a nice reassurance. </p><p>“My mother thought I needed copious amounts of sunscreen on.” Klaus wrinkled his nose and turned to pull Five down the aisle with him. </p><p>“It’s autumn.” Klaus stated it, like the obvious thing it was.</p><p>“That’s what I told her!” Five exclaimed, finally glad someone else understood her suffering. Klaus looked over his shoulder, and gave the boy one of his quieter smiles. </p><p>It was a short walk to the back of the bus, but with every seat they passed, the noise and congestion seemed to grow louder. Five’s ears were ringing from the growing voices of enthusiasm. He wished he had brought his noise cancellation headphones, but he had lost them a couple months back at a theme park his parents thought would be fun to go to. (Side note; it was not fun, do not go back to- Five). </p><p>Everyone was grouped together and confined to a pair per bus seat: Allison and Vanya, Ben and Luther, and Diego had been sitting next to Klaus. Five clicked his tongue in disapproval when he saw Klaus’ bag on the floor next to Diego’s. Where was he going to sit?</p><p>“Five, you were our last stop! Since there is an odd number, you’re gonna have to squeeze in with one of us, or sit in your own seat across from us.” Allison chittered, braiding Vanya’s long hair, putting in clips in as she went. </p><p>This was a difficult decision for Five. On one hand, he wanted to shove Diego into the aisle like he did at his house. On the other hand, he could always force Klaus to sit with him, but he didn’t think it would be received well. There was always the option of his own seat and ignoring the fools around him, but his parents had taken away all his notes and books so he couldn’t ignore interacting with others. </p><p>He didn’t like the idea of being squished between two bodies, or into the window. He didn’t like the idea of not being able to escape easily. In the end, it was still a tricky decision, but when he heard the bus driver’s gruff voice yell at him to sit down, he shoved Klaus into the seat with Diego, and squeezed himself next to the skirt wearing boy.</p><p>Nobody questioned his choice, which Five was thankful for. Instead, with the roar of the engine and cheering from the children, the long and dreaded bus ride began. Five didn’t feel fully equipped or ready for the insistent chatter he would have to face, but he buckled in anyway. His leg was bouncing a mile a minute, already stressed about the duration of the trip. Klaus seemed to notice and squeezed his hand affectionately. </p><p>There was a part of Five that wanted to rip his hand away. He didn’t need protecting, or comfort. That was supposed to be his job. He wasn’t weak. He didn’t need help. He was about ready to snarl at Klaus for feeling undermined, but with one look into the other’s eyes and Five knew he meant no ill intent. He just wanted him to feel safe, and though he begrudgingly admitted it in his head, Klaus made him feel a bit better. For whatever that reason would be, Five had no clue. Maybe Klaus did have some sort of witchy powers, Five thought. </p><p>Allison was still in the process of braiding Vanya’s hair. Five looked to Klaus, who was looking at the two girls with something akin to longingness etched on his face. Five turned back to the girls who were playing beauty parlor. “How do you do that?”</p><p>It wasn’t really a question, but more of a demand. By then, the others had realized Five was sort of like a porcupine, prickly on the outside but soft underneath (albeit not by much). They weren’t insulted by his tone or inflection anymore, they just brushed it off as a ‘Five thing’ and left it as is. It’s what made him unique. Allison, being a bright girl, just took it all in stride. </p><p>“I’m braiding her hair. My dad just taught me how to French braid my own! I’m doing it in pigtails for her though.” Vanya and Allison both scooted forward so Vanya’s knees were in the isle, and Allison’s were squished underneath her. They tried to turn so they could show him better. </p><p>Five watched with an intense focus he usually would direct towards his studies and lab experiments. It honestly didn’t look too complicated. It was just inherently a weaving pattern. Over and under, over and under, don’t forget to add hair by the time you reach both ends. Allison was still clumsy about it, but Five knew he could do better. </p><p>He turned to Klaus who was still watching Allison weave Vanya’s hair, entranced. Five snapped his fingers in front of Klaus’ face. The green eyed boy blinked slowly and almost owlishly. He tilted his head a bit towards Five, but still kept the two girls in his line of sight. </p><p>“Hey,” Five grunted out in an animalistic fashion. He tugged on Klaus’ jacket with his free hand. He pointed towards Vanya’s hair. “Let me do that to you.”</p><p>Klaus gave him a jittery smile. “You don’t have to.” Klaus shot one last look at the girls before turning to look out the window, pulling his hand out of Five’s</p><p>Five tugged on the boy’s jacket, a deep scowl was set on his face. “Let me do it.” </p><p>Five didn't really understand the appeal of grooming one's hair, but Klaus looked like he wanted his hair all tangled like Vanya's, so who was Five to say no? Especially when Klaus was looking at it with his big and dopey eyes, that stared at things so honestly and showed everything he was feeling. It really wasn't an option not to give him, in Five's defense. </p><p>Five wrapped his arms around Klaus, pulling the boy’s upper body on top of him, trying to lay him on his lap so he could get better access to the other’s hair. Klaus ended up just laying on top of the other, his head falling over the side of Five’s thigh. He looked a bit silly upside down, but it was still a cute angle, Five thought as he ran his fingers through the boy’s curly hair. </p><p>Klaus reached up and tapped Five’s nose with the pad of his finger. Five’s face contorted, scrunching up tightly, but he let himself quickly relax. Klaus seemed to think Five’s reaction was funny, so the boy supposed it didn’t feel that bad. Klaus gave him an earnest smile, his cheeks dimpling ever so slightly. </p><p>“Are you sure? You don’t have to.” Five clicked his tongue at the other boy. He continued to stroke Klaus’ head with a soft touch. It reminded him of how people would fondly scratch a pet's head. </p><p>“I told you I wanted to so let me do it, idiot. Now hurry up before I change my mind.” Klaus paid no mind to the harshness behind the words, just gave Five one of those smiles that made the boy’s cheeks redden in a youthful flush before sitting back up and turning a bit so his back was facing Five. </p><p>The girls giggle as they watched Five try to begin braiding Klaus’ hair. He wasn’t half bad, not that Five had any doubts to begin with. Unlike how most kids would grab large chunks of hair that were uneven, Five did his best to part everything into perfect sections. The real issue was, he wasn’t braiding hard enough for it to stay, so some of the hair would slip out. </p><p>Five groaned in annoyance as he ran his fingers through his progress, messing it up in frustration. Allison, already being done with Vanya’s hair, was chuckling with the other girl as Five restarted for the nth time. His annoyance quickly became amusing for them, they had never met a little boy so intent on braiding another’s hair perfectly. </p><p>“Five, you have to braid it more tightly than that.” Allison advised, watching as Five gently tried to pull the hair through. </p><p>Ben and Luther were also watching Five start to grow angrier and angrier each time he felt compelled to restart the braid. Sometimes, they would even give in their two cents, not that Five had wanted it. He wished everyone would just shut up and let him do it his way. He’d get it eventually, he didn’t need tips from the peanut gallery.</p><p>“Dude, I hate to say this, but they’re right. You’re really not pulling it hard enough. Klaus’ hair is really silky, so it’ll just slip out if you keep doing it the way you’re doing.” Ben had put his book down on his lap, his arms crossed over each other as he spectated from the seat behind him. </p><p>"Aw, Ben, you hate to say we are right?" Vanya teased as she ruffled the boy's hair. Ben frowned and smoothed his black hair back into psoition.</p><p>"You know that's not what I meant. But seriously, come on, man. It's not that hard."</p><p>“Shut up,” Five hissed ferally as he continued with his own method, too stubborn to try a different way. </p><p>"Have you ever braided hair?" Allison asked Ben as they began a thumb war with each other. Allison played sneakily, twisting the arm and clenching her opponent's hand tightly. </p><p>"No, but it all is just technical execution, I guess." Ben spoke smartly.</p><p>“All you have to do is tug his hair a little harder, Five.” Vanya instructed as she played with the end of her hair, ignoring the two behind her. “Why are you so scared to pull it just a little tighter?” She joked light heartedly.</p><p>Five wasn’t scared, he just didn’t want to pull Klaus’ hair out. He knew he could be more than rough sometimes, and it wasn’t intentional. He couldn’t help that maybe sometimes he would play with toys too harshly and they would break into tiny pieces. Other times he’d let his anger get the better of him, and no one was safe. Five couldn’t hurt Klaus, he didn’t want the other to cry. He cried so easily and it made him uncomfortable. Things just weren't right when Klaus was sad. </p><p>“I’m not scared, I’m doing it just fine.” Five protested arrogantly. This time, he got about halfway before restarting. </p><p>Klaus’ neck was arched at an odd angle. The longer he sat in the same position, the more he began to squirm around. He was trying to be patient, but his neck was really starting to hurt. He decided to tell Five this. </p><p>“Five, I need to move, it’s okay, really.” Klaus wiggled his way out of Five’s hands. He shot him a kind smile. “Thanks for trying.” </p><p>“No, I can do it!” Five yelled as he made a grabbing motion to pull Klaus back towards him. This time, it was Diego who interjected.</p><p>Diego grabbed Klaus’ shoulders and turned him to face Five square on. He swept his fingers through the curly boy’s hair, getting out any of the unnecessary knots formed from Five’s constant overworking. When he was satisfied with it, he began to quickly split the hair into sections. It took him a total of a minute and thirty-five seconds to fully braid Klaus’ hair. Five had wanted to snap at him, but he too had been drawn into how quickly and neat Diego worked. </p><p>“Holy cow, Diego!” Allison gasped as Klaus turned his head for everyone to see. “What kind of braid is that? It’s amazing.” </p><p>Even Luther and Ben couldn’t help but show a look of awe on their faces. “Did you use more than three strands?” Ben asked as he leaned forward and went to grab Klaus’ hair. Five smacked his hand away. Ben just laughed at the other’s antics. </p><p>“I-It’s a five-strand braid. My little cousins l-like me to braid their hair whenever they come over to our house.” Diego shrugged as he fell back against the bus seat, proud of his work. </p><p>“Well, it’s absolutely amazing.” Vanya smiled at him kindly. </p><p>While everyone praised Diego’s skillfulness, Five was left to wallow in self pity. He clenched his fists in anger, digging his nails into his palm. He tried to practice the breathing exercises his mother had gone over with him a week ago. He was good at everything, it wasn’t his fault Diego had first hand experience. That was practically cheating. Five clenched his jaw tightly, his teeth grinding together. </p><p>Diego always took the attention. What was so good about him? So what if he could braid? Five was a scholar, he was going to change the world. Yes, maybe he could kick a ball, but anyone with two proper feet could do that. A gorilla could do that, Five thought about Luther. It wasn't fair, he was always trying to one up him. He didn't give Five any time to prepare. </p><p>While Five was stewing in his anger, he didn’t notice Klaus’ attention until the other had pried open his hand and slipped his chubby child finger’s between the other’s. Klaus bumped his shoulder against Five’s in reassurance. </p><p>“I really liked how gentle you were. It felt nice. You can keep practicing during lunch, if you want.”</p><p>Five was still angry. He was angry that everyone was trying to tell him what to do, he was angry that they thought they could do a better job, and he was angry that Diego had done a better job. What made him even angrier was that he had the nerve to touch Klaus.</p><p>“Diego did a better job.” Five muttered passive aggressively under his breath. With all the buzzing of other conversations on the bus, he was sure Klaus would’ve missed it. The others had, as they had moved on to another conversation entirely. </p><p>Klaus looked around shyly before quickly leaning over and placing a small peck on Five’s cheeks. The other boy sat completely, still, his back straightened up and his whole body alert. The only movement he made was to place his hand on his cheek, lightly touching where he was just kissed. </p><p>“I think you did perfectly,” Klaus whispered after before jolting backwards. </p><p>Klaus didn’t look at Five when he felt the other’s striking blue eyes land on him. He just hummed a little to himself and joined Diego in looking out the window, listening to Allison, Ben, and Vanya playing some sort of clapping game. He smiled a little as he spared a quick look back to Five. </p><p>The boy’s mouth was wide open and his hand still rested on his cheek. All he could do was blink rapidly as red stained his entire face and his body felt a nice warmth flow through it, contrasting with the cold anger just previously consuming him. He had never been kissed by anyone other than his parents, and he hated the slobber they’d leave all over his face.</p><p>With Klaus, it was sweet and spontaneous and it made Five have heart palpitations again. Maybe he was really ill. He’d have to talk to his parents about that. He was too young to have a heart disease. In the meanwhile, he did conclude a few other things; he didn’t find he minded being kissed by Klaus. It wasn’t as gross as he was used to, and even though Klaus was still an idiot, was definitely Five’s idiot. </p><p>Diego can find someone else’s hair to braid, Five thought to himself as he tugged the hair tie out watching it unravel over Klaus' shoulders. He found himself instinctually leaning into the other’s warmth. Klaus continued to hum a made up melody as they both seemed to melt into each other, their hands finding each other again, fitting together like slotted puzzle pieces. They didn’t let go the rest of the ride.</p>
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